Masaru Ibuka
In 1969, Sony launched Sony TC-50, a compact cassette recorder. NASA equipped every astronaut with the device from Apollo 7 onwards. Astronauts were required to use the recorder to log their missions but they also listened to music by inserting and playing the pre-recorded tapes. Masaru Ibuka also enjoyed listening to classical music using recorders, preluding the birth of Walkman. In October the same year, Sony released a prototype of the world's first commercial videocassette recorder. This led to the official launch of the VP-1100 two years later.