Engineers Want To Bring Home the World's Oldest Satellite

Engineers Want To Bring Home the World's Oldest Satellite

Launched in 1958, the "awkward-looking" Vanguard-1 satellite ("the size of a grapefruit") is the oldest artificial object orbiting Earth. "A team of researchers and engineers want to retrieve the satellite for closer inspection and are currently working to find a way to bring Vanguard-1 home," writes Gizmodo: Other satellites of its time have reentered through Earth's atmosphere, burning up in a fiery death, but Vanguard-1 is still in orbit, sil…

AFTER 66 YEARS IN SPACE, THE WORLDS OLDEST SATELLITE MIGHT FINALLY GET A RIDE HOME

Launched in 1958 and comparable in size to a grapefruit, Vanguard-1 holds the distinction of being the oldest human-made object still in orbit around Earth—essentially a relic of the space age. While other satellites disintegrated upon re-entry, Vanguard continued its journey around the planet. Currently, engineers from the U.S. consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton are exploring ways to retrieve it and analyze the effects of 66 years in space on …