Launched on August 19, 1964, the Syncom 3 communication satellite earned its title as the first geostationary communication satellite. In the midst of a global communications explosion, Sycom 3 was used in a variety of communications tests, including the transmission of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to the United States as well as transmissions between the Philippines, USNS Kingsport, and Camp Roberts, California, and teletype transmissions to an aircraft on the San Francisco-Honolulu route.Syncom 3 remains in orbit near the International Dateline alongside its two predecessors, the aptly named Syncom 1, which lost transmission on its way to geosynchronous orbit due to an electronics failure and Sycom 2, the first geosynchronous communication satellite with an inclined, rather than geostationary orbit. Syncom 2 facilitated a phone call from President John F. Kennedy in Washington D.C. to Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa aboard USNS Kingsport docked in Lagos Harbor; the first live two-way call between heads of government via satellite.Happy Birthday Echo, the Beautiful Space Balloon That Relayed Our First Satellite MessageFollow Motherboard on Twitter @MotherboardTV
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