On August 7th, 1959, the United States launched Exolorer 6 from Cape Canaveral. A sphere-shaped satellite, it was the first satellite to be launched under the management of the newly formed NASA, and is credited for taking the first ever photo of Earth from Space on August 14th, 1959. It was also the first satellite to utilize large solar cell paddles to recharge its batteries in orbit. In orbit, Explorer 6 suffered from a partial power failure when one of its four solar panels failed to deploy, but it successfully transmitted data for roughly two months until October 1959, and remained in orbit as a "silent ghost" until it finally decayed and burned up in the atmosphere on July 1st, 1961.
