This photograph shows the first pass of Echo 1, America’s first communications satellite, over the Goldstone Tracking Station managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California, in the early morning of Aug. 12, 1960. The movement of the antenna, star trails (shorter streaks), and Echo 1 (the long streak in the middle) are visible in this image.
JPL’s role in Project Echo involved sending and receiving signals through two of its 85-foot-diameter antennas at the West Coast Goldstone tracking station in the Mojave Desert. The antennas at Goldstone later became part of the JPL-managed NASA Deep Space Network -- the “phone company” for nearly every spacecraft that has gone to the moon or beyond. Recently rediscovered audio recordings from the JPL archives highlight the lab’s involvement in America’s first satellites for communication.
More: No Balloons for JPL’s Birthday, Just a ‘Satelloon’
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
- NASA
Echo flew over Sydney and my ol' Dad took a couple of young lads, Doc and I, out to see it. I'm not sure of Doc's reaction or even that much of my own in seeing it but to this day I remember it and the wonder of, wow, that star is moving but it's a satellite and it's here but up there and ... wow ...
The only previous look at space was when Uncle Otto came over with a telescope and we could see the rings of Saturn. Wow works great for all things for hippies but it wasn't enough for that moment and it was the same as with the Echo satellite for which the memory is crystalline now.
For many this is a memory from antediluvian times and there's a magical feeling in seeing a satellite fly over at any time but this was the first one. As a kid that probably didn't register so much but in retrospect the real magic of it becomes so much more clear.
Echo flew over Sydney and my ol' Dad took a couple of young lads, Doc and I, out to see it. I'm not sure of Doc's reaction or even that much of my own in seeing it but to this day I remember it and the wonder of, wow, that star is moving but it's a satellite and it's here but up there and ... wow ...
The only previous look at space was when Uncle Otto came over with a telescope and we could see the rings of Saturn. Wow works great for all things for hippies but it wasn't enough for that moment and it was the same as with the Echo satellite for which the memory is crystalline now.
For many this is a memory from antediluvian times and there's a magical feeling in seeing a satellite fly over at any time but this was the first one. As a kid that probably didn't register so much but in retrospect the real magic of it becomes so much more clear.
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