Harold Rosen will be inducted May 3 into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work developing the world’s first 24-hour communication satellite.

Rosen is a consultant and former employee of St. Louis, Mo.-based Boeing [NYSE: BA]. When Rosen worked for Boeing, he led the team that developed Syncom, the world’s first synchronous communications satellite.

The first Syncom satellite was destroyed shortly after launch. Syncom 2 relayed the first live two-way satellite relay call between heads of state – U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Nigerian Prime Minister Abubaker Balewa. A third Syncom satellite brought U.S. viewers live coverage of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The Syncom satellites remained active through 1966, but were decommissioned and retired in April 1969.