By Stephen Fisher


Maybe we haven't conquered outer space yet, but there's little argument that we have made bang-up progress since the first attempts to get into the heavens. The space age actually began in 1946, when captured German V-2 rockets were used to take measurements in the upper atmosphere. Prior to this, scientists used balloons that went up about 20 miles and radio waves were used to study the ionosphere. This continued to about 1952.

The U.S. had been considering launching orbital satellites since 1945 under the Bureau of Aeronautics of the United States Navy. The U.S. Air Force at first considered satellites to be a tool for science, politics, and propaganda. Following pressure by the American Rocket Society, the National Science Foundation, and the International Geophysical Year, military interest picked up and in early 1955 the Air Force and Navy were working on Project Orbiter, which involved using a Jupiter C rocket to launch a little satellite called Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958.

This is especially true when you consider long distance calls and roaming charges. Pre-paid cell phones are particularly convenient in that they are ready to use from the minute they are purchased. You can go to any one of the many dealerships that represent the numerous cell phone companies and check out what products they have available.

This contention between the Soviet Union and the United States pretty much ushered in the beginning of satellite intercommunication. By 1973, Canada's satellite Anik I became the world's first satellite television network. It was primitive by today's standards, but it was a start. See more of this subject at http://www.yesastronomy.com.

If you know someone that travels often or who will be traveling this holiday season, a Magellan GPS unit that will map put up to twenty points and give them the shortest routes to each is a great gift idea. Your friends and family will be able to create a route that is easy to follow and will get them where they need to go quickly.

The coach potatoes of this today thus began their affections for TV satellite networks. HBO began broadcasting their signals to cable companies, who sold you access to the channel via subscription. The problem, naturally, was that for every channel you subscribed to you had to pay a little extra. This was not acceptable news for the austere channel surfers who want to have over 100 channels accessible. And it got pretty frustrating for those who heard about a new movie or sports event being shown, only to discover that the signal was blocked and accessible only to premium subscribers.




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