On This Day in Space: NASA launched the 100-foot Echo 1A balloon on August 12, 1960; the passive satellite reflected telephone, radio and television signals across Earth

Exactly sixty-six years ago from today, on August 12, 1960, NASA launched Echo 1A, a 100-foot-diameter balloon that became the agency's first successful communications satellite. Unlike modern communication satellites, Echo 1A did not actively transmit signals.

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