English subtitles for clip: File:1959-08-10 Explorer VI.webm

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Explorer 6, the paddle wheel satellite, shown before launching, the vanes

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jutting from the two-foot sphere, contain tiny cells to convert solar energy

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into power for the Explorer's battery of radio equipment and instruments.

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Carried into orbit by an Air Force Thor-Able rocket, the satellite will

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measure the Earth's radiation belts and magnetic field. And perhaps most

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impressive of all, will relay back crude pictures of the globe

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and its cloud cover from the vantage of outer space.

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[sound of rocket launching]

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The launching is flawless, as its 14th space passenger to date

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goes into an elliptical path 150 miles from Earth at its closest,

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26,000 miles out at its farthest point. The paddle wheel satellite will

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remain in this orbit at least a year, continually drawing electricity from

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the Sun's light to power its unique eye in the sky,

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probing the mysteries of the cosmos.