Spacecrafts - Satellites

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149..Relay 1 - Relay was a communications satellite of the active repeater type, in which signals from one ground station were picked up and rebroadcast to another station by the satellite's internal equipment. Relay 1 was revolutionary. Not only was it meant for communications between countries, but it also took measurements to map out the Earths radiation belt. This is the first satellite to relay television signals from the United States to Japan, including the first word of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. In 1964, it's part of the link bringing television coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics from Tokyo to the U.S., participating in the first multi-satellite broadcast with Syncom 3.
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150..Relay II - Relay 2 (COSPAR satellite ID: Relay 2 1964-003A) was launched atop a Delta B rocket (373/D-23) on January 21, 1964, from LC-17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was physically similar to Relay 1. Design changes in this satellite improved its performance so response to spurious commands was essentially eliminated. NASA ceased operations with Relay 2 on September 26, 1965.
On June 13, 2025, a powerful and mysterious blast of radio waves that astronomers believed was a fast radio burst (FRB) from far beyond the limits of the Milky Way has turned out to be an emission from a long-dead NASA satellite called Relay 2. This may have been caused by a electrostatic discharge event or a cloud of charged plasma from a collision with a micrometeorite.
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