Editing Syncom (section)

==Syncom 1, 2 and 3==
[[File:Syncom 2 side.jpg|thumb|upright|First generation Syncom satellite]]

=== Common features ===
The three early Syncom satellites were experimental spacecraft built by [[Hughes Aircraft Company]]'s facility in [[Culver City, California]], by a team led by [[Harold Rosen (electrical engineer)|Harold Rosen]], Don Williams, and Thomas Hudspeth.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wichter |first=Zach |date=February 2, 2017 |title=Harold Rosen, Who Ushered in the Era of Communication Satellites, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/harold-rosen-dead-engineer-satellite.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> All three satellites were cylindrical in shape, with a diameter of about {{Convert|71|cm}} and a height of about {{Convert|39|cm}}.  Pre-launch fueled masses were {{Convert|68|kg}}, and orbital masses were {{Convert|39|kg}} with a {{Convert|25|kg|adj=on}} [[Payload (air and space craft)|payload]]. They were capable of emitting signals on two [[transponders]] at just 2&nbsp;[[watt|W]]. Thus, Syncom satellites were only capable of carrying a single two-way telephone conversation, or 16 [[Teleprinter|Teletype]] connections. {{As of|2009|6|25|post=,}} all three satellites are still in orbit, although no longer functioning.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Space Objects Registry |url=https://usspaceobjectsregistry.state.gov/Pages/Search.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006073413/https://usspaceobjectsregistry.state.gov/Pages/Search.aspx |archive-date=October 6, 2013 }}</ref>

=== Syncom 1 ===
'''Syncom 1''' was intended to be the first [[geosynchronous orbit|geosynchronous]] communications satellite.  It was launched on February 14, 1963, with the [[Delta (rocket family)|Delta B]] #16 [[expendable launch system|launch vehicle]] from [[Cape Canaveral]], but was lost on the way to geosynchronous orbit due to an electronics failure.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898835,00.html |title=The Room-Size World |date=May 14, 1965 |magazine=[[TIME]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520010007/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898835,00.html |archive-date=May 20, 2009 }}
</ref> Seconds after the [[apogee]] kick motor for circularizing the orbit was fired, the spacecraft fell silent. Later telescopic observations verified the satellite was in an orbit with a period of almost 24 hours at a 33° inclination.

=== Syncom 2 ===
'''Syncom 2''' was launched by NASA on July 26, 1963<ref name="D-2911" /> with the [[Delta (rocket family)|Delta B]] #20 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral. The satellite successfully kept station at the altitude calculated by [[Herman Potočnik|Herman Potočnik Noordung]] in the 1920s.

[[File:USNS Kingsport SYNCOM Call Kennedy-Balewa July 1963.png|thumb|Prime Minister Balewa (2nd from right) talks to President John F. Kennedy on the first live broadcast via the SYNCOM satellite from USNS ''Kingsport'' in Lagos, Nigeria.]]

During the first year of Syncom 2 operations, NASA conducted voice, teletype, and facsimile tests,<ref name="D-2911">{{cite journal |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650019255.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650019255.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Television Tests with the Syncom II Synchronous Communications Satellite (NASA technical note D-2911) |first1=Varice F. |last1=Henry |first2=Michael E. |last2=McDonald |journal=NTRS.nasa.gov |publisher=[[NASA]] |date=July 1965 |access-date=December 7, 2014}}</ref> as well as 110 public demonstrations to show the capabilities of this satellite and invite feedback. In August 1963, President [[John F. Kennedy]] in Washington, D.C., telephoned Nigerian Prime Minister [[Abubakar Tafawa Balewa]] aboard {{USNS|Kingsport|T-AG-164|6}} (the first satellite communication ship) docked in [[Lagos]] Harbor—the first live two-way call between heads of government by satellite. The ''Kingsport'' acted as a control station and uplink station.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Thomas |last2=Sellmaier |first2=Florian |last3=Schmidhuber |first3=Michael |year=2014 |title=Spacecraft Operations |location=New York |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783709118023 |lccn=2014945749 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XbZTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA312 |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2023}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=Mark |date=2006 |title=Spacecraft Technology: the early years |location=London |publisher=Institution of Electrical Engineers |isbn=9780863415531 |lccn=2008530215 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npI5NsFG8ngC&pg=PA185 |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>

Syncom 2 also relayed a number of test television transmissions from Fort Dix, New Jersey to a ground station in Andover, Maine, beginning on September 29, 1963.  Although it was low-quality video with no audio, it was the first successful television transmission through a geosynchronous satellite.<ref name="D-2911" />

=== Syncom 3 ===
'''Syncom 3''' was the first [[Geostationary orbit|geostationary]] communication satellite, launched on August 19, 1964 with the [[Delta rocket|Delta D]] #25 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral.  The satellite, in orbit near the [[International Date Line]], had the addition of a wideband channel for television and was used to telecast the [[1964 Summer Olympics]] in [[Tokyo]] to the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=For Gold, Silver & Bronze |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876272,00.html |date=October 16, 1964 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421134503/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876272,00.html |archive-date=April 21, 2008 |magazine=[[TIME]] }}</ref> Although Syncom 3 is sometimes credited with the first television program to cross the [[Pacific Ocean]], the [[Relay 1]] satellite first broadcast television from the United States to Japan on November 22, 1963.<ref name="NASA-SP-93">{{cite web |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19660009169_1966009169.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19660009169_1966009169.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Significant Achievements in Space Communications and Navigation, 1958-1964 |date=1966 |work=NASA-SP-93 |publisher=NASA |pages=30–32 |access-date=October 31, 2009 }}</ref>{{Rp|1}}

=== Transfer to Department of Defense control ===
By the end of 1964, Syncoms 2 and 3 had completed NASA's R&D experiments. On January 1, 1965, NASA transferred operation of the satellites to the [[United States Department of Defense]] (DOD) along with telemetry, command stations, and range and rangefinding equipment. DOD had, in fact, provided the communications ground stations used to relay transmissions via the two Syncoms since their launch. DOD agreed to provide telemetry and ranging data of continuing scientific and engineering interest.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

In 1965, Syncom 3 was implemented to support the DOD's communications in Vietnam.<ref name="aa1965">{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/AAchronologies/1965.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://history.nasa.gov/AAchronologies/1965.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1965 |publisher=NASA |date=1966 |access-date=January 2, 2019 }}</ref>

Turned off in 1969, Syncom 3 remains in [[geosynchronous orbit]] {{As of|2024|lc=on|post=.}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Detailed information about SYNCOM 3 satellite, 1964-047A, TLE data for Norad 858 |url=http://www.infosatellites.com/syncom3-satellite-information-norad-858.html |website=Infosatellites.com |quote=The spacecraft next carried out a series of attitude and velocity maneuvers to align itself with the equator at an inclination of 0.1 degrees and to slow its speed so it drifted west to the planned location at 180 degrees longitude where its speed at altitude was synchronized with the Earth. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114945/http://www.infosatellites.com/syncom3-satellite-information-norad-858.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=July 14, 2024 }}</ref> In 50 years it has drifted east, to longitude 123&nbsp;W.<ref>{{cite web |title=Track SYNCOM 3 Satellite in Real Time |url=http://www.infosatellites.com/syncom3-satellite-tracking-norad-858.html |website=Infosatellites.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032039/http://www.infosatellites.com/syncom3-satellite-tracking-norad-858.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }} Requires Javascript.</ref>