Communications satellite of a GEO satellite. Like LEOs, these satellites don’t maintain a stationary distance from the earth. This is in contrast to the geostationary orbit, where satellites are always approximately from the earth. Typically the orbit of a medium earth orbit satellite is about above earth. In various patterns, these satellites make the trip around earth in anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. In 1962, the first communications satellite, Telstar, was launched. It was a medium earth orbit satellite designed to help facilitate high-speed telephone signals. Although it was the first practical way to transmit signals over the horizon, its major
DirecTV satellite fleet DirecTV satellite fleet The DirecTV satellite fleet is a group of communications satellites located at various geostationary orbits for the DirecTV satellite television service and HughesNet (formerly known as "DirecWAY" and "DirecPC") internet service. Defunct satellites are highlighted in gold. <nowiki>*</nowiki>Default sort column DirecTV-1R was launched in 1999. It was the first satellite used to broadcast local channels for DirecTV in major DMAs, and was positioned at 101.2° W when it first entered service. In 2004, when DirecTV completed moving all local channels in major DMAs to DirecTV-4S, DirecTV-1R was repositioned to 72.5° W to provide local channels for smaller