On April 26, 1962, Britain launched its first satellite, Ariel 1.
This made the United Kingdom the third country to have a satellite in orbit after the U.S. and the Soviet Union — but they didn't launch it themselves. Ariel 1 launched on an American Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It was also built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Britain's Science and Engineering Research Council provided all of the experiments. Five of the six experiments on board studied the relationship between solar radiation and Earth's ionosphere, and one was dedicated to studying cosmic rays. Just 10 weeks after Ariel 1 launched, it was damaged by an explosion during a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the U.S. military. Its solar panels broke, and it was unable to transmit any more useful data after that.
This made the United Kingdom the third country to have a satellite in orbit after the U.S. and the Soviet Union — but they didn't launch it themselves. Ariel 1 launched on an American Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It was also built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Britain's Science and Engineering Research Council provided all of the experiments. Five of the six experiments on board studied the relationship between solar radiation and Earth's ionosphere, and one was dedicated to studying cosmic rays. Just 10 weeks after Ariel 1 launched, it was damaged by an explosion during a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the U.S. military. Its solar panels broke, and it was unable to transmit any more useful data after that.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space. On April 26, 1962, Britain launched its first satellite, Aerial One.
00:08This made the United Kingdom the third country to have a satellite in orbit after the US and
00:12the Soviet Union. But they didn't launch it themselves. Aerial One launched on an American
00:18Thor Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It was also built at Goddard
00:22Space Flight Center in Maryland. Britain's Science and Engineering Research Council provided all of
00:27the experiments. Five of the six experiments on board studied the relationship between
00:31solar radiation and Earth's ionosphere, and one was dedicated to studying cosmic rays.
00:37Just ten weeks after Aerial One launched, it was damaged by an explosion during a high-altitude
00:41nuclear test conducted by the US military. Its solar panels broke, and it was unable to transmit
00:47any more useful data after that. And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:57in the run-in.
01:00Olympics
01:03Alden
01:07Wait
01:08Third