Posts: 1522 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted 08-12-2010 01:00 PM
It was today in 1960 that Echo 1A (now just called "Echo 1") achieved orbit. This 100-foot diameter Mylar balloon was very bright from the ground and made for spectacular overhead passes while it was in orbit.
One of my very earliest memories was watching it pass overhead from our home near Williamsburg, Virginia, on a hot August night.
wickball Member
Posts: 107 From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Registered: Jul 2005
posted 08-12-2010 05:23 PM
I was 7 at the time, still vividly remember my Dad taking me outside our apartment building at night to see it. My introduction to space flight. It was great!
mikej Member
Posts: 481 From: Germantown, WI USA Registered: Jan 2004
posted 08-12-2010 09:09 PM
I've uploaded pictures of an Echo 1 flight spare at the Udvar-Hazy Center and an Echo launch adapter (which, although identified as from Echo 1, appears to be from Echo 2) at the Cradle of Aviation museum to my website.
dss65 Member
Posts: 1156 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
posted 08-12-2010 10:30 PM
I guess I was 8, and I also clearly remember my father taking me outside and pointing it out. I sure felt like we were entering a new era. Those were exciting times.
albatron Member
Posts: 2732 From: Stuart, Florida Registered: Jun 2000
posted 08-13-2010 10:01 AM
Hard to believe another mylar balloon ascended just a short 4 days later with Joe Kittinger on board for his spectacular leap!
dss65 Member
Posts: 1156 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
posted 08-14-2010 05:12 PM
I never knew those two events happened so close together, Al. That's amazing. And yet another indicator of what exciting times those were.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-16-2010 07:25 PM
NASA video release
Fifty years ago, NASA launched its first communications satellite, Echo 1. Made from mylar polyester film and measuring about 100 feet across, the balloon-shaped spacecraft was designed as a passive communications reflector for transcontinental and intercontinental telephone, radio, and television signals.
During orbit, a special recorded message from President Eisenhower was bounced off Echo 1 and picked up by radio operators across the nation.
posted 08-12-2010 01:00 PM
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