This year marks the 50th anniversary of Project SCORE, the first American satellite to relay communications from space. Project SCORE’s primary mission objective was to show that an Atlas missile could put a payload into orbit. Its secondary objective was to demonstrate that a communications relay could be operated in orbit. The latter objective caused SCORE to achieve global fame when it was used to send a Christmas greeting to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. SCORE was a pathfinder, but also an example of the complicated relationship between military and civil space objectives.
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