Plastic, wood, copper alloy, steel, white metal plating, paint
Dimensions:
3-D: 30.5 × 11.7 × 9.5cm (1 ft. × 4 5/8 in. × 3 3/4 in.)
Type:
MODELS-Uncrewed Spacecraft & Parts
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Summary:
By the late 1970s, communications via satellite had become a vital part of national and international life. The Comstar satellites were emblematic of this development. Built by Hughes Aircraft for American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), then the dominant provider of telecommunications services in the US, the Comstars were AT&T's first effort at using satellites to complement its extensive system of ground-based communications.
The satellites were launched from 1976 to 1981. The last Comstar continued operation until 2002.
Hughes Aircraft donated this 1/24 scale model of a Comstar satellite to the Museum in 1975.
