SCORE (satellite)

<p>SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was the world's first purpose-built <a href="/facts/Communications_satellite/y5RXPMDT">communications satellite</a>. Launched aboard an American <a href="/facts/Atlas_(rocket_family)/G4rKFbb7">Atlas rocket</a> on December 18, 1958, SCORE provided the first broadcast of a human voice from space,  the first successful use of the Atlas as a launch vehicle, and the second test of a communications relay system in space (after July's <a href="/facts/Pioneer_1/8wMkqy56">Pioneer 1</a>), . It captured world attention by broadcasting a Christmas message via <a href="/facts/Shortwave_radio/7cIaClcB">shortwave radio</a> from <a href="/facts/President_of_the_United_States/oMsfmLb1">U.S. President</a> <a href="/facts/Dwight_D._Eisenhower/a21WXe8r">Dwight D. Eisenhower</a> through an on-board tape recorder. The satellite was popularly dubbed "<i>The Talking Atlas</i>" as well as "Chatterbox". SCORE, as a geopolitical strategy, aimed to place the United States at an even technological par with the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> as a response to the <a href="/facts/Sputnik_1/GQ5KLlNC">Sputnik 1</a> and <a href="/facts/Sputnik_2/g2L3YBbY">Sputnik 2</a> satellites.
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SCORE (satellite) open-in-new

SCORE (satellite)