Nasa has retired its first tracking and data relay (TDRS 1) satellite after 27 years of service.
Launched into orbit during space shuttle Challenger’s STS-6 mission in 1983, TDRS 1 provided Nasa with the ability to communicate with other satellites until 1998.
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In 1998, the satellite was reassigned to support the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) US Antarctic programme and others scientific, educational and operational endeavours.
TDRS-1 functioned in concert with eight additional satellites to relay data and communications from customers including the NSF, the Hubble space telescope and the International Space Station.
The first satellite used to support launches from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in the 1990s, it also linked the North and South Pole and relayed the first pole-to-pole phone call.
The Northrop Grumman-built spacecraft was part of the TDRS constellation of nine in-orbit satellites that will be joined by two more in 2013.
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By GlobalDataThe satellite was shut down on 27 June 2010 after it arrived at its final destination, about 22,500 miles above the Earth where the orbit was stabilised and the remaining fuel removed.
