ABSTRACT
Arthur Clarke's article in Wireless World in 1945 proposing a 'space station' marked the beginning to the satellite era. However, until the shock of Sputnik in 1957, U.S. space research including work on telecommunications systems was carried out primarily for the military and was virtually invisible to the public. However, after Sputnik, the U.S. made an accelerated commitment to its civilian space programme, highlighted by the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. In December, 1958, the Department of Defense launched its first communications satellite, Signal Communications Orbiting Relay Experiment (SCORE).
