Communications satellites

Below are checklists of communications satellites, launch dates, and images of the satellites. This is a work in progress, and completeness is our goal. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.

Satellite series covered on this page:

U.S. Echo-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Shotput-1 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1959-10-28	Shotput	Echo	Echo
Shotput-2 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1960-01-16
Shotput-3 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1960-02-27
Shotput-4 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1960-04-01
Echo-1 [failed]	1960-05-13	Echo-1
Shotput-5 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1960-05-31	Shotput
Echo-1A	1960-08-12	Echo-1
Big Shot-1 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1962-01-15
Big Shot-2 (Echo test) rocket (sub-orbital)	1962-07-18
Echo-2 (Echo-C)	1964-01-25	Echo-2
Echo	Unspecified	Echo Echo

U.S. Courier-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Courier-1A [failed]	1960-08-18	Courier-1A
Courier-1B	1964-10-04	Courier-1B	Courier-1B

Telstar-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Telstar-1	1962-07-10	Telstar-1 Telstar-1 Telstar	Telstar	Telstar
Telstar-2	1963-05-07
Telstar-301 / Arabsat-1E	1983-07-28	Telstar-301
Telstar-302 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1984-08-30
Telstar-303 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-06-17
Telstar-401	1993-12-16	Telstar-401
Telstar-402	1994-09-09
Telstar-402R	1995-09-24
Telstar-5	1997-05-24	Telstar-5/6/7
Telstar-6	1999-02-15
Telstar-7	1999-09-25
Telstar-8	200?
Telstar-9	200?
Telstar-10 / APStar-2R	1997-10-17
Telstar-11 / Orion-1	1994-11-29
Telstar-12 / Orion-2	1999-10-19
Telstar-13 / Echostar-9	2003-08-08
Telstar-14 / Estrela do Sul-1	2004-01-11
Telstar-18 / APStar-5	2004-06-29	Telstar-18

U.S. Relay-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Relay-1	1962-12-13	Relay-1	Relay-1 Relay-1 Relay-1 Relay-1+2	Relay Relay Relay Relay
Relay-2	1964-01-21		Relay-1+2 Relay-2

U.S. Syncom-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Syncom-1	1963-02-14	Syncom-1	Syncom-1 Syncom-1 Syncom Syncom	Syncom Syncom Syncom Syncom Syncom Syncom+other
Syncom-2	1963-07-26		Syncom-2
Syncom-3	1964-08-19		Syncom-3 (25th anniv.)
Syncom-4-2 / Leasat-F2 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1984-08-30	Leasat
Syncom-4-1 / Leasat-F1 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1984-11-08
Syncom-4-3 / Leasat-F3 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-04-12
Syncom-4-4 / Leasat-F4 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-08-29		Leasat-F4 (STS/Discovery-launch)
Syncom-4-5 / Leasat-F5 [STS/Columbia-launched]	1990-01-09
Syncom	Unspecified		Syncom Syncom	Syncom

INternational TELecommunications SATellite consortium (Intelsat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Intelsat-1 / Early-Bird	1965-04-06	Intelsat-1	Early-Bird	Early-Bird Early-Bird
Intelsat-2 series (F1 — F4) / Blue-Bird / Lani-Bird / Canary-Bird	1966-10-26 — 1967-09-28	Intelsat-2	Intelsat-2 Intelsat-2-F4 Canary-Bird-3	Lani-Bird+Telstar
Intelsat-3 series (F1 — F8)	1968-09-18 — 1970-07-23	Intelsat-3	Intelsat-3-F2 (not Intelsat-3A) Intelsat-3-F5 Intelsat-3-F5 Intelsat-3-F6 Intelsat-3-F8
Intelsat-4 series (F1 — F8)	1971-01-25 — 1975-05-22	Intelsat-4-F4 Intelsat-4-F8	Intelsat-4 Intelsat-4 (wrong image) Intelsat-4-F5	Intelsat-4 SIRIO-1+Intelsat-4
Intelsat-4A series (F1 — F6)	1975-09-26 — 1978-03-31	Intelsat-4A	Intelsat-4A-F2 Intelsat-4A-F4 Intelsat-4A-F3 (Intelsat-4 image) Intelsat-4A-F4 (Intelsat-4 image)	Intelsat-4A
Intelsat-5 series (F1 — F9)	1980-12-06 — 1984-06-09	Intelsat-5	Intelsat-5 Meteosat+Exosat+Intelsat-5+Arabsat+Turksat
Intelsat-5A series (F10 — F15)	1985-03-23 — 1989-01-27
Intelsat-6 series (F1 — F5)	1989-10-27 — 1991-10-29	Intelsat-6		HST+UARS+Intelsat-6+Explorer-66 (with Shuttle)
Intelsat-6-F3 [rocket-launched]	1990-03-14
Intelsat-6-F3 [STS/Endeavour-repaired and re-launched]	1992-07-31
Intelsat-K	1992-06-09	Intelsat-K
Intelsat-7 series (F1 — F5, and F9)	1993-10-22 — 1996-06-15	Intelsat-7
Intelsat-7A series (F6 — F8)	1995-05-17 — 1996-02-14	Intelsat-7a
Intelsat-8 series (F1 — F4)	1997-03-01 — 1997-12-22	Intelsat-8
Intelsat-8A series (F5 — F6)	1998-06-18 — 1998-02-27	Intelsat-8a
Intelsat-9 series (F1 — F7)	2001-06-09 — 2003-02-15	Intelsat-9
Intelsat-10 series	200?
Intelsat	Unspecified		Intelsat Intelsat
Intelsat	Multiple	Intelsat-1+2+3+4+4A		Intelsat-1+2+3+4+4A OTS+Anik-2+Intelsat-1+2+3+4+4A

Asia Pacific STAR (APStar) series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
APStar-1	1994-07-21	APStar-1
APStar-2	1995-01-26	APStar-2
APStar-1A	1996-07-03
APStar-2R / Telstar-10	1997-10-16	APStar-2R
APStar-5 / Telstar 18	2004-06-29
APStar-6	2005-04-12	APStar-6

Anik-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Anik-A1 / Telesat-1 (Telesat-A)	1972-11-10	Anik-A Anik-A	Anik-1 (Telesat-A) Anik-1 (Intelsat-4 image)
Anik-A2 / Telesat-2 (Telesat-B)	1973-04-19			OTS+Anik-2+Intelsat-1+2+3+4+4A
Anik-A3 / Telesat-3 (Telesat-C)	1975-05-07
Anik-B1 / Telesat-4 (Telesat-D)	1978-12-15	Anik-B1	Anik-B1/Telesat-4 Anik-B1
Anik-C1 / Telesat-9 (Telesat-I) / Nahuel-I1 / Brazil-1T [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-04-12	Anik-C/D
Anik-C2 / Telesat-7 (Telesat-G) / Hahuel-I2 [STS/Challenger-launched]	1983-06-18
Anik-C3 / Telesat-6 (Telesat-E) [STS/Columbia-launched]	1982-11-11
Anik-D1 / Telesat-5 (Telesat-F)	1982-08-26
Anik-D2 / Telesat-8 (Telesat-H) / Satcom-4R / Arabsat-1DR [STS/Discovery-launched]	1984-11-08
Anik-E1	1991-09-26	Anik-E1		Anik-E1
Anik-E2	1991-04-04			Anik-E2
Anik-ER2 / Galaxy-3R	1995-12-15
Anik-F1	2000-11-21	Anik-F1		Anik-F1
Anik-F1R	200?	Anik-F1R
Anik-F2	2004-07-18	Anik-F2
Anik-F3	200?	Anik-F3

WEstern union STAR (Westar) series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Westar-1 (Westar-A)	1974-04-13		Westar-1
Westar-2 (Westar-B)	1974-10-10		Westar-2
Westar-3	1979-08-10
Westar-4	1982-02-26	Westar-4
Westar-5	1982-06-09
Westar-6 [STS/Challenger-launched]	1984-02-03
Westar-6 [Discovery-recovered]	1984-11-08
Westar	Unspecified	Westar		Westar

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
NATO-1	1970-03-20		NATO-1 NATO-1
NATO-2	1971-02-03
NATO-3A	1976-04-22		NATO-3A
NATO-3B	1977-01-28		NATO-3B
NATO-3C	1978-11-19
NATO-3D	1984-11-14
NATO-4A	1991-01-08		NATO-4A
NATO-4B	1993-12-08

French-German Symphonie-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Symphonie-1 (Symphonie-A)	1974-12-19	Symphonie-1 Symphonie-1	Symphonie-1 (folded solar panels) Symphonie-1 (Intelsat-3 image)	Symphonie Symphonie1+TDF or TV-Sat Symphonie1+TDF or TV-Sat
Symphonie-2 (Symphonie-B)	1975-08-27		Symphonie-2 Symphonie-2 Symphonie-2 (folded solar panels)
Symphonie	Unspecified		Symphonie Symphonie Symphonie+Helios Aeros+Azur+Helios+Symphonie

¹The solar panels on this satellite are not identical to those on Symphonie.

German TeleVision Satellite (TV-Sat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
TV-Sat-1	1987-11-21	TV-Sat-1		Symphonie1+TDF or TV-Sat Symphonieq+TDF or TV-Sat
TV-Sat-2	1989-08-08

¹The solar panels on this satellite are not identical to those on Symphonie.

French Télédiffusion de France (TDF) series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
TDF-1	1988-10-28	TDF-1		Symphonie1+TDF or TV-Sat Symphonie1+TDF or TV-Sat
TDF-2	1990-07-25

¹The solar panels on this satellite are not identical to those on Symphonie.

European Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
OTS-1 (OTS-A) [failed]	1977-06-16	OTS		OTS OTS ESA-GEOS+OTS-2 OTS+Anik-2+Intelsat-1+2+3+4+4A
OTS-2 (OTS-B)	1978-05-11		OTS-2 OTS-2 OTS-2 OTS-2 (mislabeled OTS-1, wrong image)

European Astra-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Astra-1A	1988-12-11
Astra-1B	1991-03-02		Meteosat-5+Astra-1B
Astra-1C	1993-05-12
Astra-1D	1994-11-01
Astra-1E	1995-10-19
Astra-1F	1996-04-08
Astra-1G	1997-12-02
Astra-1H	1999-06-18
Astra-1K	2002-11-25
Astra-2A	1998-08-30
Astra-2B	2000-09-14
Astra-2C	2001-06-16
Astra-2D	2000-12-20
Astra-3A	2002-03-29

European Hotbird-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Hotbird-1	1995-03-28
Hotbird-2	1996-11-21
Hotbird-3	1997-09-02		Meteosat-7+Hotbird-3 Meteosat-7+Hotbird-3 Meteosat-7+Hotbird-3
Hotbird-4	1998-02-27
Hotbird-5	1998-10-09
Hotbird-6	2002-08-21
Hotbird-7A	2006-03-11		HotBird-7A+SpainSat

MARitime communications SATellite (Marisat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Marisat-1	1976-02-19	Marisat-1	Marisat-1	Marisat+Marecs (not Inmarsat)
Marisat-2	1976-06-10
Marisat-3	1976-10-14

MARitime European Communications Satellite (Marecs) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Marecs-1 (Marecs-A)	1981-12-20	Marecs	Marecs-1	Marisat+Marecs (not Inmarsat)
Marecs-B [failed]	1982-09-10		SIRIO-2+Marecs-B SIRIO-2+Marecs-B SIRIO-2+Marecs-B SIRIO-2+Marecs-B SIRIO-2+Marecs-B
Marecs-2 (Marecs-B2)	1984-11-10

INternational MARitime SATellite (Inmarsat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Inmarsat-2-F1	1990-10-30	Inmarsat-2		Marisat+Marecs (not Inmarsat)
Inmarsat-2-F2	1991-03-08
Inmarsat-2-F3	1991-12-16
Inmarsat-2-F4	1992-04-15
Inmarsat-3-F1	1996-04-03	Inmarsat-3
Inmarsat-3-F2	1996-09-06
Inmarsat-3-F3	1996-12-18
Inmarsat-3-F4	1997-06-03
Inmarsat-3-F5	1998-02-04
Inmarsat-4-F1	2004-03-11	Inmarsat-4
Inmarsat-4-F2	2005-11-08
Inmarsat-4-F3	2008-08-19		Inmarsat-4-F3

COMmunications STAR (Comstar) series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Comstar-1	1976-05-13	Comstar-1	Comstar-1
Comstar-2	1976-07-22		Comstar-2
Comstar-3	1978-06-29
Comstar-4	1981-02-21		Comstar-4

ECHO STAR (Echostar) series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Echostar-1	1995-12-28	Echostar-1
Echostar-2	1996-09-11
Echostar-3	1997-10-05	Echostar-3
Echostar-4	1998-05-07
Echostar-5	1999-09-23
Echostar-6	2000-07-14	Echostar-6
Echostar-7	2002-02-21
Echostar-8	2002-08-22	Echostar-8
Echostar-9 / Telstar-13	2003-08-08

Palapa-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Palapa-1	1976-07-08		Palapa-1
Palapa-2	1977-03-10		Palapa-2
Palapa-B1 [STS/Challenger-launched]	1983-06-18	Palapa-B1
Palapa-B2 [STS/Challenger-launched]	1984-02-03			Palapa-B2 (Discovery-recovered) SMM+Palapa-B2 (with Shuttle)
Palapa-B2 [Discovery-recovered]	1984-11-08
Palapa-B2P	1987-03-20
Palapa-B2R	1990-04-13
Palapa-B4	1992-05-14
Palapa-C1	1996-02-01
Palapa-C2	1996-05-16

British Skynet-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Skynet-1	1969-11-22		Skynet-1
Skynet-1B	1970-08-19		Skynet-1B
Skynet-2A	1974-01-19
Skynet-2B	1974-11-23		Skynet-2B
Skynet-4A	1990-01-01
Skynet-4B	1988-12-11
Skynet-4C	1990-08-30
Skynet-4D	1998-01-10
Skynet-4E	1999-02-26
Skynet-4F	2001-02-07
Skynet-5C	2008-06-12		Skynet-5C

German Deutscher Fernmelde Satellit (DFS) / Kopernikus-series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
DFS / Kopernikus-1	1989-06-05	DFS		DFS/Kopernikus DFS DFS
DFS / Kopernikus-2	1990-07-25
DFS / Kopernikus-3 / HellasSat-1	1992-10-12

Japanese Ayame / Experimental Communications Satellite (ECS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Ayame-1 (ECS-A)	1979-02-06		Ayame-1
Ayame-2 (ECS-B)	1980-02-22		Ayame-2

Japanese Yuri / Broadcasting Satellite (BS / BSAT) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Yuri-1 / BSE	1978-04-07		BSE (Explorer-38/49 image and text)
Yuri-2a / BS-2a	1984-01-23	BS-2a
Yuri-2b / BS-2b	1986-02-12
Yuri-2x / BS-2x	1990-02-23
Yuri-3a / BS-3a	1990-08-28	BS-3a		BS-3+others
Yuri-3h / BS-3h	1991-04-19	BS-3h
Yuri-3b / BS-3b	1991-08-25
Yuri-3n / BS-3n	1994-07-08
BSAT-1a	1997-04-16	BSAT-1a
BSAT-1b	1998-04-28
BSAT-2a	2001-03-08	BSAT-2a
BSAT-2b	2001-07-12
BSAT-2C	2003-06-11

Japanese Sakura / Communications Satellite (CS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Sakura-1 / CS-1	1977-12-15	CS-1
Sakura-2A / CS-2A	1983-02-04	CS-2a
Sakura-2B / CS-2B	1983-08-05
Sakura-3A / CS-3A	1988-02-19	CS-3a	CS-3a
Sakura-3B / CS-3B	1988-09-16

Japanese Communications SATellite (JCSAT) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
JCSAT-1	1989-03-06	JCSAT-1	Meteosat-4+JCSAT-1 Meteosat-4+JCSAT-1 Meteosat-4+JCSAT-1
JCSAT-2	1990-01-01
JCSAT-3	1995-08-29	JCSAT-3/4
JCSAT-4	1997-02-18
JCSAT-5	1997-12-02	JCSAT-5/6
JCSAT-6	1999-02-16
JCSAT-8	2002-03-29	JCSAT-8

EUropen TELcommunications SATellite (Eutelsat) / European Communications Satellite (ECS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Eutelsat-1-F1 / ECS-1	1983-06-16	ECS-1	ECS-1+OSCAR-10 ECS-1+OSCAR-10
Eutelsat-1-F2 / ECS-2	1984-08-04
Eutelsat-1-F3 / ECS-3 [failed]	1985-09-12
Eutelsat-1-F4 / ECS-4	1987-09-16
Eutelsat-1-F5 / ECS-5	1988-07-21			Insat-1C+ECS-5
Eutelsat / ECS	Unspecified		ECS Eutelsat
Eutelsat-2-F1	1990-08-30	Eutelsat-2	Insat-2A+Eutelsat-2-F4 Insat-2A+Eutelsat-2-F4 Insat-2A+Eutelsat-2-F4	Eutelsat-2
Eutelsat-2-F2	1991-01-16
Eutelsat-2-F3	1991-12-07
Eutelsat-2-F4	1992-07-10
Eutelsat-2-F5	1994-01-24

French Telecommunications (Telecom) satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Telecom-1A	1984-08-04	Telecom-1A	Telecom-1	Telecom-1
Telecom-1B	1985-05-08
Telecom-1C	1988-03-11
Telecom-2A	1991-12-16	Telecom-2A
Telecom-2B	1992-04-15
Telecom-2C	1995-12-06
Telecom-2D	1996-08-08

AUStralian communications SATellite (Aussat) / Optus series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Aussat-A1 / Optus-A1 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-08-27	Aussat-A		Aussat Aussat
Aussat-A2 / Optus-A2 [STS/Atlantis-launched]	1985-11-27
Aussat-A3 / Optus-A3	1987-09-16
Aussat-B1 / Optus-B1	1992-08-13	Optus-B
Aussat-B2 / Optus-B2	1992-12-21		Optus-B2
Aussat-B3 / Optus-B3	1994-08-27		Optus-B3 Optus-B3

Mexican Morelos-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Morelos-1 (Morelos-A) [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-06-17	Morelos-1	Morelos-1	Morelos
Morelos-2 (Morelos-B) [STS/Atlantis-launched]	1985-11-27

ARABian SATellite (Arabsat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Arabsat-1	1985-02-08	Arabsat-1
Arabsat-1B [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-06-17
Arabsat-1C	1992-02-26
Arabsat-2A	1996-07-09	Arabsat-2
Arabsat-2B	1996-11-13
Arabsat-3A	1999-02-26	Arabsat-3A
Arabsat-4AR	2008-07-07		Arabsat-4AR
Arabsat	Unspecified		Meteosat+Exosat+Intelsat-5+Arabsat+Turksat

TURKish SATellite (Turksat) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Turksat-1A	1994-01-24	Turksat-1A
Turksat-1B	1994-08-11
Turksat-1C	1996-07-09
Turksat-2	2001-01-10		Turksat-2a Turksat-2a
Turksat	Unspecified		Meteosat+Exosat+Intelsat-5+Arabsat+Turksat

PAN-AMerican SATellite (Panamsat / PAS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Panamsat-1	1988-06-15		Meteosat-3+Amsat-P3C+Panamsat-1 Meteosat-3+Amsat-P3C+Panamsat-1
Panamsat-2	1994-07-08	Panamsat-2/3/4
Panamsat-4	1995-08-03
Panamsat-3R	1996-01-12
Panamsat-6	1997-08-07	Panamsat-6/7/8
Panamsat-5	1997-08-28
Panamsat-7	1998-09-16	Panamsat-6/7/8
Panamsat-8	1998-11-04
Panamsat-6B	1998-12-22	Panamsat-6B
PAS-9 / Panamsat-9	2000-07-28	Panamsat-9
PAS-1R / Panamsat-1R	2000-11-16	PAS-1R
PAS-10 / Panamsat-10	2001-05-15

American Satellite Company (ASC) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
ASC-1 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1985-08-27
ASC-2	1991-04-13	ASC-2

Satellite Business Systems (SBS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
SBS-1 (SBS-A)	1980-11-15	SBS-1	SBS-1
SBS-2 (SBS-B)	1981-09-24
SBS-3 (SBS-C) [STS/Columbia-launched]	1982-11-11
SBS-4 (SBS-D) [STS/Discovery-launched]	1984-08-30			SBS-4 (STS/Discovery-launch)
SBS-5	1988-09-08
SBS-6	1990-10-12	SBS-6

U.S. Air Force (USAF) Satellite Data System (SDS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
SDS-1	1976-06-02
SDS-2	1976-08-06
SDS-3	1978-08-05
SDS-4	1980-12-13
SDS-5 / USA-4	1984-08-28
SDS-6 / USA-9	1985-02-08
SDS-7 / USA-21	1987-02-12
SDS-2-1 / USA-40 [STS/Columbia-launched]	1989-08-08	SDS-2
SDS-2-2 / USA-67 [STS/Atlantis-launched]	1990-11-16
SDS-2-3 / USA-87 [STS/Discovery-launched]	1992-12-02
SDS-2-4 / USA-125	1996-07-03
SDS-3-1 / USA-137	1998-01-29
SDS-3-2 / USA-155	2000-12-06
SDS-3-3 / USA-162	2001-10-11
SDS-3-4 / USA-179	2004-08-31

Radio Corporation of America-SATellite COMmunications (RCA-Satcom) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
RCA-Satcom-1 (RCA-Satcom-A)	1975-12-13
RCA-Satcom-2 (RCA-Satcom-B)	1976-03-26
RCA-Satcom-3 (RCA-Satcom-C)	1979-12-07
RCA-Satcom-3R	1981-11-20
RCA-Satcom-4	1982-01-16
RCA-Satcom-5	1982-10-28
RCA-Satcom-6 (RCA-Satcom-F)	1983-04-11
RCA-Satcom-7 (RCA-Satcom-H)	1983-09-08

SATellite COMmunications (Satcom) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Satcom-KU2 [STS/Atlantis-launched]	1985-11-27
Satcom-KU1 [STS/Columbia-launched]	1986-01-12
Satcom-C1	1990-11-20
Satcom-C4	1992-08-31
Satcom-C3	1992-09-10

U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
TDRS-1 (TDRS-A) [STS/Challenger-launched]	1983-04-04	TDRS-A (STS/Challenger-launch)		TDRS
TDRS-2 (TDRS-B) [STS/Challenger-launched, failed]	1986-01-28
TDRS-3 (TDRS-C) [STS/Discovery-launched]	1988-09-26
TDRS-4 (TDRS-D) [STS/Discovery-launched]	1989-03-13		STS-29+TDRS-D (STS/Discovery-launch) STS-29+TDRS-D (STS/Discovery-launch)
TDRS-5 (TDRS-E) [STS/Atlantis-launched]	1991-08-02
TDRS-6 (TDRS-F) [STS/Endeavour-launched]	1993-01-13
TDRS-7 (TDRS-G) [STS/Discovery-launched]	1995-07-13
TDRS-8 (TDRS-H)	2000-06-30
TDRS-9 (TDRS-I)	2002-03-08
TDRS-10 (TDRS-J)	2002-12-05

Russian Molniya-series satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
Molniya-1 series (1-1 — 1-31)	1965-04-23 — 1975-09-02	Molniya-1 Molniya-1 Molniya-1 Molniya-1	Molniya	Molniya
Molniya-1S series (1-? — 1-?)	19?? — 19??
Molniya-1T series (1-32 — 1-93)	1976-01-22 — 2004-02-18
Molniya-2 series (2-1 — 2-17)	1971-11-24 — 1977-02-11	Molniya-2
Molniya-3 series (3-1 — 3-50)	1974-11-21 — 1999-07-08	Molniya-3 Molniya-3
Molniya-3K series (3K-1 — 3K-3)	2001-07-20 — 2008-?	Molniya-3K

Israeli Affordable Modular Optimized Satellite (AMOS) series:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
AMOS-1	1996-05-16	AMOS-1		AMOS
AMOS-2	2003-12-27	AMOS-2
AMOS-3	2008-04-28	AMOS-3

Other (selected) U.S. communications satellites:

Satellite	Launch Date	Images
		reference	launch covers	postal items
SCORE	1958-12-18	SCORE
IDCSP-1	1966-06-16	IDCSP	GGTS+IDCSP-1
IDCSP-2	1967-01-18		IDCSP-2
IDCSP-4	1968-06-13		IDCSP-4
Tacomsat-1 / Tacsat-1	1969-02-09	Tacsat	Tacomsat-1 Tacomsat-1
DSCS-2-03/04	1973-12-13	DSCS-2 DSCS-2	DSCS-2-3+4
DSCS-2-07/08	1977-05-12		DSCS-2-7+8
DSCS-2-13/14	1979-11-21		DSCS-2-13+14
FltSatCom-5	1981-08-06		FltSatCom-5
DSCS-3-03/04 / USA-11/12 [STS/Atlantis-launched]	1985-10-03	DSCS-3
ACTS [STS/Discovery-launched]	1993-09-12	ACTS
Iridium (unspecified)	1995-05-05 — 2002-02-20	Iridium		Iridium Iridium Iridium

Other (selected) non-U.S. communications satellites:

Satellite	Country	Launch Date	Images
			reference	launch covers	postal items
CTS / Hermes	USA / Canada	1976-01-17	CTS	CTS
Ekran / Statsionar (unspecified)	Russia	1976-10-26 —>	Ekran		Ekran-M Molniya-3+Ekran+Gorizont-14+53+90+140
Gorizont (unspecified)	Russia	1978-12-19 —>	Gorizont		Gorizont Gorizont Gorizont Gorizont Molniya-3+Ekran+Gorizont-14+53+90+140
APPLE	India	1981-06-19		APPLE Meteosat-2+APPLE Meteosat-2+APPLE Meteosat-2+APPLE	APPLE
Tele-X	Sweden, Norway, and Finland	1989-04-02	Tele-X		Tele-X
Olympus	ESA	1989-07-12	Olympus	Intasat+Olympus	Olympus
Solidaridad-1	Mexico	1993-11-20	Solidaridad-1	Meteosat-6+Solidaridad-1 Meteosat-6+Solidaridad-1 Meteosat-6+Solidaridad-1
Ekspress (unspecified)	Russia	1994-10-13 —>	Ekspress		Ekspress
Luch (unspecified)	Russia	1994-12-16 — 1995-10-11	Luch		Luch
Asiasat-2	Asia / China	1995-11-28		Asiasat-2
DFH-3	China (PRC)	1997-05-11		DFH-3 DFH-3
Atlantic Bird-1	Europe	2002-08-28		MSG-1+Atlantic Bird-1
Chinasat-20	China (PRC)	2003-11-03		Chinasat-20
Vinasat-1	Vietnam	2008-04-18		Vinasat-1
Venesat-1	Venezuela	2008-10-29	Venesat-1		Venesat

Links to communications satellite information:

(The links below lead to information sources that are maintained by others. They are not part of this Website.)

• Astronautix.com: Molniya program
• Czechoslovakia: Program Molniya

Back to Un-Manned Satellite Philately.