1959: Explorer 6 (or S-2), was NASA’s “paddlewheel” satellite, launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral by a Thor-Able III. It transmitted the first television pictures from space. In addition, Maj Robert C. Mathis used the satellite to relay the first intercontinental voice message. He later became the USAF Vice Chief of Staff. It was a small, spheroidal satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in the upper atmosphere, and the flux of micrometeorites.
