SCORE
Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
23:02:00
Thursday December 18, 1958
Watch Replay
Official Livestream
Mission Details
Launch Notes
The first communications satellite launch and the only orbital launch of Atlas B.
SCORE
Project SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was the world’s first communications satellite. It captured world attention by broadcasting a Christmas message via shortwave radio from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower through an onboard tape recorder.
Low Earth Orbit
1 Payload
68 kilograms
Rocket
Agency
US Air ForceRocket
Height: 26m
Payload to Orbit
LEO: 70 kg
Liftoff Thrust
1,600 Kilonewtons
Stages
2
Launch Site
LC-11
Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA
Stats
SM-65B Atlas
1st
Mission
1st
Mission of 1958
1958
28th
Orbital launch attempt