Editing Syncom (section)

=== Syncom 2 ===
'''Syncom 2''' was launched by NASA on July 26, 1963<ref name="D-2911" /> with the [[Delta (rocket family)|Delta B]] #20 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral. The satellite successfully kept station at the altitude calculated by [[Herman Potočnik|Herman Potočnik Noordung]] in the 1920s.

[[File:USNS Kingsport SYNCOM Call Kennedy-Balewa July 1963.png|thumb|Prime Minister Balewa (2nd from right) talks to President John F. Kennedy on the first live broadcast via the SYNCOM satellite from USNS ''Kingsport'' in Lagos, Nigeria.]]

During the first year of Syncom 2 operations, NASA conducted voice, teletype, and facsimile tests,<ref name="D-2911">{{cite journal |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650019255.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650019255.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Television Tests with the Syncom II Synchronous Communications Satellite (NASA technical note D-2911) |first1=Varice F. |last1=Henry |first2=Michael E. |last2=McDonald |journal=NTRS.nasa.gov |publisher=[[NASA]] |date=July 1965 |access-date=December 7, 2014}}</ref> as well as 110 public demonstrations to show the capabilities of this satellite and invite feedback. In August 1963, President [[John F. Kennedy]] in Washington, D.C., telephoned Nigerian Prime Minister [[Abubakar Tafawa Balewa]] aboard {{USNS|Kingsport|T-AG-164|6}} (the first satellite communication ship) docked in [[Lagos]] Harbor—the first live two-way call between heads of government by satellite. The ''Kingsport'' acted as a control station and uplink station.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Thomas |last2=Sellmaier |first2=Florian |last3=Schmidhuber |first3=Michael |year=2014 |title=Spacecraft Operations |location=New York |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783709118023 |lccn=2014945749 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XbZTBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA312 |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2023}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=Mark |date=2006 |title=Spacecraft Technology: the early years |location=London |publisher=Institution of Electrical Engineers |isbn=9780863415531 |lccn=2008530215 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npI5NsFG8ngC&pg=PA185 |access-date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>

Syncom 2 also relayed a number of test television transmissions from Fort Dix, New Jersey to a ground station in Andover, Maine, beginning on September 29, 1963.  Although it was low-quality video with no audio, it was the first successful television transmission through a geosynchronous satellite.<ref name="D-2911" />