Do you know that the first amateur radio satellite was launched on 12 December 1961? This satellite was successfully launched into orbit by amateur radio in US in only around 4 years after SPUTNIK-1, first human-made satellite that successfully orbit our earth, launched by Russia on 4 October 1957.

The first amateur radio satellite is called Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio - 1, or OSCAR-1. This satellite orbited our earth for 22 days. During this 22 days in orbit, OSCAR-1 has successfully established 1-way communication with 570 amateur radio in 28 countries, through broadcast of beacon and telemetry. The telemetry contains information about the temperature of the satellite.

The first amateur radio satellite that carry amateur radio repeater payload is OSCAR-3. The repeater transponder operated for 18 days, successfully used to communication by 1.000 amateur radio across 22 countries.

Rewritten from: https://www.amsat.org/amsat-history/