Skip to main content
Please check our Hours of Operation page before planning your visit. Click on red bar for more information.
[X]

USN 710980: Transit IV-B Conception Art

USN 710980: Transit IV-B Conception Art. Transit IV-B, Navy navigational satellite and its pick aback rider Transit Research and Altitude Control (TRAAC), an experiment in altitude stabilization by use of the Earth’s gravity, shown moments after separation in orbit some 500 miles up. Transit IV-B is another major step by the Bureau of Naval Weapons to provide a worldwide all-weather navigational system. TRAAC was developed for the Navy by the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University to test the unique satellite design which will keep the face of a satellite pointing to Earth forever by the means of gravity alone. Photograph released November 8, 1961. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
Download Image:
Low (PNG, 319x319px, 55KB)
Med (JPEG, 1280x1280px, 173KB)
High Res (JPEG, 2927x2120px, 562KB)
Caption: USN 710980: Transit IV-B Conception Art. Transit IV-B, Navy navigational satellite and its pick aback rider Transit Research and Altitude Control (TRAAC), an experiment in altitude stabilization by use of the Earth’s gravity, shown moments after separation in orbit some 500 miles up. Transit IV-B is another major step by the Bureau of Naval Weapons to provide a worldwide all-weather navigational system. TRAAC was developed for the Navy by the Applied Physics Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University to test the unique satellite design which will keep the face of a satellite pointing to Earth forever by the means of gravity alone. Photograph released November 8, 1961. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
Related Content
Topic
  • Space Exploration
Document Type
  • Photograph
Wars & Conflicts
Navy Communities
File Formats
  • Image (gif, jpg, tiff)
Location of Archival Materials
  • National Museum of the U.S. Navy
Author Name
Place of Event
Recipient Name