1000m Miles In Orbit
WASHINGTON, August 19
The various man-made moons of the earth have rolled up almost a thousand million miles "of travel since they were launched. Calculations by the 1.8. M. Vanguard computing centre in Washington gave all the satellites a total of more than 934.700,000 miles at noon. August 15. The figures did not include the fantastic space travels of Russia’s Mechta rocket, which is in orbit around the sun, or of Pioneer IV, the first successful American solar satellite. The sun is 93 million miles f’om the earth.
Pioneer IV, launched last March 3, made its closest approach to the sun —91,700,000 miles —on March 17, and is due to be at its farthest point of 106.000.000 miles away about October 1.
Here are the tallies for the satellites in orbit:
Explorer I. launched January 31. 1958:—213.000,000 miles. Vanguard I. launched March 17,
1958:—186,100.000 miles. Sputnik 111, launched May 15, 1958:—177,100,000 miles. Explorer IV, launched July 26,
1958:—145,500.000 miles. Vanguard 11, launched February 17. 1959:—66,1000.000 miles. Explorer VI, launched August 7, 1959:—1,350,000 miles. Discoverer VI, launched August 19, 1959.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28979, 21 August 1959, Page 13
Word Count
1831000m Miles In Orbit Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28979, 21 August 1959, Page 13
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