When Australia launched a satellite on 29 November 1967, it was the third country in the world ever to have launched a satellite from its own land (the other two were the Soviet Union and the United States). The satellite was fired into the air and into orbit from the Woomera Rocket Range, which is in a very isolated desert part of South Australia. The payload was shaped like a cone and was just over two metres long, weighing more than 70 kg. It carried scientific tests for measuring the composition of the atmosphere and solar radiation. The satellite was in orbit for about six weeks before it re-entered the atmosphere. Australian scientists continued important space research using rockets fired from Woomera until it was closed in 1980.