SCORE (satellite)
The Atlas-B with SCORE on the launch pad; the rocket (without booster engines) constituted the satellite. | |
| Mission type | Communications |
|---|---|
| Operator | U.S. Army / ARPA |
| Harvard designation | 1958 Zeta 1 |
| COSPAR ID | 1958-006A |
| SATCAT no. | 00010 |
| Mission duration | 12 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | U.S. Army / ARPA |
| Launch mass | 3980 kg |
| Power | Batteries |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 18 December 1958 23:02:00 GMT |
| Rocket | Atlas-B 10B |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, LC-11 |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 30 December 1958 |
| Decay date | 21 January 1959 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 185 km |
| Apogee altitude | 1484 km |
| Inclination | 32.3° |
| Period | 101.4 minutes |
| Epoch | 18 December 1958 |
| Instruments | |
| Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment | |
SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was the world's first purpose-built communications satellite. Launched aboard an American Atlas rocket on December 18, 1958, SCORE provided the first broadcast of a human voice from space, the first successful use of the Atlas as a launch vehicle, and the second test of a communications relay system in space (after July's Pioneer 1),. It captured world attention by broadcasting a Christmas message via shortwave radio from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower through an on-board tape recorder. The satellite was popularly dubbed "The Talking Atlas" as well as "Chatterbox". SCORE, as a geopolitical strategy, aimed to place the United States at an even technological par with the Soviet Union as a response to the Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 satellites.