&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Atlas-B_with_Score_payload.jpg) The Atlas-B with SCORE on the launch pad; the rocket (without booster engines) constituted the satellite. | |
| Mission type | Communications |
|---|---|
| Operator | U.S. Army / ARPA |
| Harvard designation | 1958 Zeta 1 |
| COSPAR ID | 1958-006A |
| SATCAT no. | 00010 |
| Mission duration | 12 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | U.S. Army / ARPA |
| Launch mass | 3980 kg [1] |
| Power | Batteries |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 18 December 1958 23:02:00 GMT |
| Rocket | Atlas-B 10B |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, LC-11 |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 30 December 1958 |
| Decay date | 21 January 1959 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric[2] |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 185 km |
| Apogee altitude | 1484 km |
| Inclination | 32.3° |
| Period | 101.4 minutes |
| Epoch | 18 December 1958 |
| Instruments | |
| Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment | |
SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was the world's first purpose-built communications satellite. Launched aboard an American Atlas rocket on December 18, 1958, SCORE provided the second test of a communications relay system in space (the first having been provided by the USAF/NASA's Pioneer 1),[3] the first broadcast of a human voice from space, and the first successful use of the Atlas as a launch vehicle. It captured world attention by broadcasting a Christmas message via shortwave radio from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower through an on-board tape recorder.[4] The satellite was popularly dubbed "The Talking Atlas"[5] as well as "Chatterbox".[6] SCORE, as a geopolitical strategy, placed the United States at an even technological par with the Soviet Union as a highly functional response to the Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 satellites.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Displaywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Trajectorywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Marcus, Gideon. "Pioneering Space II" (PDF). Quest Space Quarterly.)
- ^ "SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment)". GlobalSecurity.org. 20 September 2006. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
- ^ Elder, Donald C. (1995). Out from behind the Eight-Ball: a history of Project Echo. AAS history series. San Diego: American astronautical society. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-87703-387-5.
- ^ "Today in History: December 18, Donald Trump is impeached for the first time". WTOP-FM. December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023 – via Associated Press.