TACSAT 1 (also TACOMSAT, Tactical Communications satellite) was the largest and most powerful communications satellite at the time when it was launched into synchronous orbit by a Titan-3C 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.