diplexer, and a command decoder. The transmitters and receivers were set up so two of each would be running at any given time, the others were on standby and could be switched in by ground command. The sphere was covered with 19,200 solar cells, charging nickel-cadmium batteries, providing 60 W power. It was the first satellite to use nickel–cadmium storage batteries. The satellite had the capability to simultaneously transmit, receive, and store approximately 68,000 coded words per minute. It also had real-time communications mode, supporting a single half-duplex voice circuit. The mission was operated by two monitoring stations in New Jersey and Puerto Rico using special 8.5 meters of dish antennas. Mission Courier 1B launched on 4 October 1960 at 17:45:00 GMT from the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch vehicle was a Thor-Able-Star, comprising a modified USAF Thor IRBM first stage and a USAF Able-Star upper stage with a re-startable liquid engine. The satellite was successfully inserted into an orbit with a perigee of , an apogee of , an inclination of 28.33°, and an Orbital period of 106.8 minutes. Messages were successfully received and transmitted and the satellite operated nominally until a command system failure ended communications 17 days after launch. After completing a first orbit, a teletype message to the United Nations General Assembly from President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower was sent to United States Secretary of State Christian Herter, to be delivered by Herter to Frederick Boland, President of the General Assembly at the United Nations then in session at New York. The message of Eisenhower was transmitted by Courier 1B from the Camp Evans, Deal Test Site, a New Jersey off-base transmission facility of Fort Monmouth. The message was relayed to the Camp Salinas Training Area, a ground station and tracking installation in Salinas, Puerto Rico. If Courier 1B was in sight of the two ground stations at the same time, Courier 1B had the capability of "real time" messaging. Courier 1B had an effective message transmission rate of 55,000 bits per second and: Used ultra–high frequency (UHF) communications. This portion of the electromagnetic spectrum had remained relatively unused and generally free from man-made and atmospheric interference. The Courier satellite could simultaneously transmit and receive approximately 68,000 words per minute while moving through space at 16,000 miles per hour, and could send and receive facsimile photographs. After 228 orbits