1961 Press Photo Transit Satellite Launched from Thor-Able-Star Rocket, Florida

Cape Canaveral, Florida, November 15 - Transit satellite launched - The U.S. Air Force's Thor-Able-Star rocket shoots skyward from Cape Canaveral today, carrying the Transit IV-B satellite which, if successful, will mark another major step by the Navy toward the development of a worldwide, all-weather navigational system for air, land or sea. Transit IV-B carried pickaback the Navy's new asymmetrical satellite TRAAC (Transit Research and Attitude Control) to test the feasibility of employing the earth's gravitational field to stabilize a satellite with its face permanently turned toward earth.

Photo is dated 1961.

Photo measures 8 x 10 inches.