60 years in orbit for 'grapefruit satellite' – the oldest human object in space
- Written by Alice Gorman, Senior Lecturer in archaeology and space studies, Flinders University
One of the Vanguard satellites being checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958.NASA
Sixty years ago, a grapefruit-sized aluminium sphere with six antennas and some tiny solar cells was launched into Earth orbit. The Vanguard 1 satellite is still up there and is the oldest human-made object in space. It’s our first piece of space...
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