Two stories high and more than 9 feet in diameter, the huge Boeing Satellite Systems-built TACSAT 1 satellite was launched in 1969 and used by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force to test the feasibility of using synchronous satellites for tactical communications by mobile military field units, aircraft, and ships. TACSAT I was the largest and most powerful communications satellite at the time when it was launched into synchronous orbit by a Titan IIIC booster 9 February 1969, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The experimental tactical communications satellite was designed and built by Hughes Aircraft Company, under the direction of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization, for the Department of Defense.