• Question: What is the oldest known satellight is space?

    Asked by AstridSmall to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 9 Dec 2015.
    • Photo: Andrew Winnard

      Andrew Winnard answered on 9 Dec 2015:

      Vanguard 1 (ID: 1958-Beta 2) was the fourth artificial Earth orbital satellite launched (after Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1). It was the first satellite to be solar powered. Although communication with it was lost in 1964, it remains the oldest manmade satellite still in orbit.

    • Photo: Delma Childers

      Delma Childers answered on 10 Dec 2015:

      Andrew is absolutely right, but this got me curious about which satellite is the oldest functioning satellite in space. The oldest I can find is GOES 3, which was launched in 1978 as a weather satellite and continues to be used as a communications satellite (more than 37 years of service!). Andrew or Alex, do you know of any older ones?

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