|
table of contents |
The Echo Satellite, as you may know, was launched on August 12, 1960. It was our first communications satellite but was of rather limited use because it was set in perpetual orbit circling the earth every 90 minutes. Later they put communications satellites in geo-synchronous orbits which allowed constant continuous contact with them. This photo was taken a couple of months after the initial launch. If you look closely at the path, its intensity varies. That's due to the fact that by October the 100' aluminized plastic balloon had begun to deflate due to being bombarded by micrometeors. It was in fact tumbling at the time, which would have been no problem when the thing was fully inflated.
Although I've probably tripped a shutter ten thousand or more times down through the years, have amassed a collection of six or seven thousand color transparencies and have had numerous photographs published in magazines, books, annual reports, and on greeting cards and posters, I still consider myself an amateur in the strictest sense of the word. Every new photo is a learning experience; every new photo a challenge.