WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
SPACED OUT
Profile America — Saturday, December 19th. The satellite Atlas was launched from Cape Canaveral on this date in 1958. The spacecraft would make history the next day, beaming the first voice heard from space — a recording of President Eisenhower with a 58-word Christmas greeting. These words came at the height of the Cold War and early in the space race. Just 14½ months earlier, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. Today, satellites daily perform vital functions — tracking the weather, relaying millions of telephone calls and computer links, as well as radio and television signals. Satellite telecommunications in the U.S. involves hundreds of establishments in a $6.6 billion a year business, and employs over 8,000 people. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.
Sources:
Kane's Famous First Facts, 6281
Atlas launch & voice recording/accessed 10/16/2015: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-032113a.html
Sputnik/accessed 10/16/2015: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
Current satellite count/accessed 10/16/2015: http://www.statista.com/statistics/264472/number-of-satellites-in-orbit-by-operating-country/
Satellite telecommunications establishments and employment/NAICS 5174: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=BP_2013_00A1&prodType=table
Satellite telecommunications value of receipts/NAICS 5174:
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_00A1&prodType=table
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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