“There is a single satellite launched by the US Navy in 1964 that is still in orbit, still transmitting, and still being used by amateur radio operators around the world — and nobody at the Navy has been in charge of it for decades.”

Transit 5B-5 is still up there. It’s still in orbit. It’s still transmitting. And somewhere right now, an amateur radio operator with a backyard antenna is listening to a signal that was first beamed down from space when Lyndon B. Johnson was president.