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Syncom 2
Launch SuccessfulLaunch Details
Date: 26 July 1963, 02:33 pm UTC
Rocket: Thor Delta B (Thor)
Provider: United States Air Force
Mission
Type: Communications
Orbit: Geosynchronous Orbit
Pad: Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Mission Description
Syncom 2 was the first geosynchronous satellite. Although the period was 24 hours and the spacecraft remained at a nearly constant longitude, the orbit was inclined at 33 degrees so it was not truly geostationary but moved in an elongated figure eight pattern 33 degrees north and south of the equator.