Echo 1

Echo 1 was the world's first communication satellite. Essentially just a big, mylar balloon inflated in orbit, radio waves bounced off of the surface of the satellite to the next ground station. There's a famous picture of an inflated Echo satellite. Oddly enough, this particular photo is identified as both a 135-foot version (representative of Echo 2), and a 100-foot diameter version (representative of Echo 1); the date on the photo itself is several weeks before the Echo 1 launch.

A recorded message from President Eisenhower was bounced off Echo 1 and broadcast across the country. It began, "This is President Eisenhower speaking. It is a great personal satisfaction to participate in this first experiment in communications." The History Channel has an audio recording of the full message.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a "Quicklook" at the Echo 1, 1A, and 2 satellites, and Chapter 6 of Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo has a much more in-depth account of the Echo program.

NASA photo L64-6971 shows the container in which Echo 1 was launched, while photo L64-6972 shows the launch configuration. Kennedy Space Center's expendable launch vehicles page shows a picture of Echo 1's Thor-Delta (direct link to image of Echo 1's launch vehicle on KSC's ELV page) on the pad.

This is a Echo 1 flight satellite and canister, NASM collections inventory number A20030090000.