The first U S satellite to photograph the Earth is launched
From the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral Florida the U.S.unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6 is launched into an orbit around the earth.The spacecraft commonly known as the Paddlewheel satellite featured a photocell scanner that transmitted a crude picture of the earths surface and cloud cover from a distance of 17000 miles.
The photo received in Hawaii took nearly 40 minutes to transmit.Released by NASA in September the first photograph ever taken of the earth by a U.S.satellite depicted a crescent shape of part of the planet in sunlight.It was Mexico captured by Explorer 6 as it raced westward over the earth at speeds in excess of 20000 miles an hour.
