Telecommunications: Clarke's legacy

While this year marks the twenty-fifth year of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, another anniversary was marked this summer: the twentieth anniversary of the launching of Syncom II on July 26, 1963. Although there have been many significant events in the evolution of commercial satellite communications, none has had greater impact on this space technology than Syncom II, the world's first synchronous orbiting satellite. It demonstrated the technological feasibility of geostationary orbit communications, cemented the relationship between NASA and the commercial aerospace companies, and became the prototype satellite for the international Intelsat system, today the largest and most technically advanced communications satellite system in the world.