# NASA launched first communications satellite Echo 1A in 1960

2026-08-12T09:57:25+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 1 independent outlet

Exactly 66 years ago on August 12, 1960, NASA launched Echo 1A, a 100-foot-diameter balloon that became the agency's first successful communications satellite. It did not actively transmit signals but reflected telephone, radio, and television signals between distant points on Earth using its aluminised Mylar surface. The satellite launched from Cape Canaveral on a Thor-Delta rocket and expanded in orbit. Hours later, it bounced a message from US President Dwight Eisenhower from California to Bell Labs in New Jersey. Echo 1A also helped measure atmospheric density and test satellite triangulation before re-entering Earth's atmosphere on May 24, 1968.

## Coverage

- timesofindia.indiatimes.com <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/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/articleshow/133149673.cms>

Tags: 1960, communications satellite, Echo 1A, NASA, space history
Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/nasa-launched-first-communications-satellite-echo-1a-in-1960/
License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources.
Cite: https://indianopinion.org/nasa-launched-first-communications-satellite-echo-1a-in-1960/#story-in-brief

Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.