WRESAT

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Wresat (abbreviation for: Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) was the name of the first Australian satellite.

Wresat was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket from the spaceport at Woomera, South Australia. However, it must be noted that the Redstone rocket (left over from the SPARTA program) was a gift from the USA.

Wresat weighed 45 kilograms and had the form of a cone with a length of 1.59 metres and a mouth diameter of 0.76 metres. It remained connected with the third rocket stage and possessed with it an overall length of 2.17 metres. Wresat circled the earth on a nearly polar course, until it reentered the atmosphere after 642 earth revolutions on 10 January 1968, over the Atlantic. The battery-operated satellite sent data during its first 73 orbits around the earth.