Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This is the tape recorder used in the Datasphere, the first instrumented package to be recovered from space by the United States. Launched by a U.S. Air Force Thor ballistic missile on 13 June 1958 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this recorder received and stored information such as temperatures, pressures, and stresses critical to progress in the nation's spaceflight programs. The Datasphere reached an altitude of over 200 miles, reentered the atmosphere at more than 10,000 miles an hour, and was recovered intact in the South Atlantic. Ampex made this recorder and the Air Force donated it to NASM in 1959,

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed-Instruments & Payloads Manufacturer Ampex
 Dimensions Overall: 8 x 7 x 4in. (20.3 x 17.78 x 10.2cm)
Storage: 1ft x 8in. x 3 3/4in. (30.48 x 20.32 x 9.53cm)
 Materials Aluminum
Steel
Lead
Copper
Nickel Plating
Plastic
Rubber
Polyurethane
Paint
Adhesive
 Inventory Number A19590103000 Credit Line Transferred from the United States Air Force. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.