Fifty Years Ago Today, the First Communications Satellite Was Launched Into Space | At the Smithsonian | Smithsonian Fifty Years Ago Today, the First Communications Satellite Was Launched Into Space On this date in 1962, Telstar was launched, ushering in a new era of communications technology A backup duplicate of the original Telstar satellite, housed in storage at the National Air and Space Museum (National Air and Space Museum) smithsonian.com July 10, 2012 Television penetrated the average American life with astonishing speed. At the end of World War II, just a half percent of U.S. households had a TV set; by 1962, that number had increased to 90 percent. But no matter how many TVs we bought and broadcasting stations we constructed, the reach of broadcast signals over long distances was still limited by a basic physical problem: the curvature of the earth. From This Story [×] CLOSE Are you the kind of person who needs to know what keeps satellites from plummeting to the Earth in a big, fiery ball? Then you need to watch this one-minute video, where Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze gives us the lowdown on what-in-the-name-of-science makes those satellites stay up.

Video: Ask Smithsonian: What Keeps Satellites From Falling Out of the Sky? “The TV signal, which is a radio wave signal, travels in straight lines,” says Martin Collins , a curator at the Air and Space Museum . “So if you’re having to overcome the curvature of the earth, signals can only go so far before they need to be picked up by an antenna and repeated.” All this changed with the launch of a rocket in Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, exactly 50 years ago, today. The rocket carried the Telstar communications satellite , the first ever spacecraft that served to actively relay communications signals between distant points on earth. “In essence, it meant putting a relay station high up in orbit, instead of on the ground,” Collins says. ”From a technical perspective, the satellite was a nifty solution to a basic problem of physics.” The spacecraft allowed broadcasting stations in both the U.S. and Europe to send signals up into space, bounce them off the satellite, and have them received across the Atlantic nearly instantaneously, revolutionizing mass communications between the continents. The device could also be used for phone calls and even faxes. To celebrate the achievement, authorities conducted an international demonstration of Telstar’s capabilities.

“There was an exchange of programs—first from the United States to Europe, and then from Europe to the U.S.” says Collins. The American broadcast included a press conference with President Kennedy, a baseball game and images of famous places such as the Statue of Liberty and Mt. Rushmore. Telstar, an experimental satellite, successfully relayed signals for just under a year before various technical problems forced it offline. But it played a crucial role in shaping the development of subsequent satellites and helping us understand how we could conduct communications through space. The satellite employed solid state technology, provided information about how electronics functioned in the radiation of the Van Allen Belt and assisted in developing techniques to establish contact between ground antennae and spacecraft. The launch was also tremendously valuable for an American psyche rattled by the early Soviet dominance of space during the Cold War. “Telstar was an event that signaled U.S. achievement in an area that the Soviets themselves had not done,” Collins says. “The perception was that the Soviets were ahead in human space flight, and they were creating new accomplishments faster than the U.S., but Telstar represented an aspect of space flight that the U.S.

was clearly first in.” The fact that the satellite was developed primarily by AT&T, a private firm, further served to demonstrate the power of private industry, as compared to the U.S.S.R.’s state-run model. To celebrate the golden anniversary of the achievement, the Air and Space Museum—which is home to a backup duplicate of Telstar, produced along with the actual satellite launched—is hosting a day of special events on Thursday, July 12. A live satellite connection will be established with the Telecommunications Museum in Pleumeur-Bodou, France, which was the site of the original French ground antenna. The broadcast will be followed by a special symposium of space historians and industry experts, including Martin Collins, and will feature original footage from the 1962 broadcast. The event is open to the public, and will be available as a live webcast for those outside Washington. In addition to the museum’s special events, there’s yet another way to celebrate Telstar’s legacy: by looking to the skies. Although the satellite was ultimately disabled by radiation in 1963, it has remained in orbit ever since, reliably circling the earth every 2.5 hours.

Modern satellites have outstripped Telstar’s capabilities by several orders of magnitude, but the relic lives on as a physical reminder of our first successful foray into space communications. Like this article? First Communications Satellite Launched ⋆ History Channel Podcasts First Communications Satellite Launched On this day in 1962, Telstar 1—the first of many communications satellites called Telstar—was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. In subsequent years, many rockets were launched into space from the same site, including all the Apollo missions, starting with the tragic Apollo 1 launch pad test on 27 January 1967. Telstar was an unmanned craft, sent into Earth’s orbit as the first satellite to relay television signals all around the world. It brought in the new age of international communications via telephone and television, allowing picture and voice transmissions from America to Europe and back again. It was funded by the AT&T Corporation (the American Telephone and Telegraph Company)—in association with Bell Telephone Laboratories, the British General Post Office, the French Post, Telegraph and Telecom Office, and NASA—in order to allow transatlantic satellite transmissions, and it was the first privately sponsored spacecraft launch.

As well as Telstar itself, there were three ground stations to receive its signals: at Andover in Maine, at Goonhilly Downs in South-Western England, and at Pleumeur-Bodou in North-Western France. Every two and a half hours, Telstar completed an orbit of Earth, but it was only available for the 20 minutes when it was over the Atlantic. It was first tested the day after it took flight, on 11 July 1962, and it successfully transmitted live television footage of a flag from outside the Andover Earth Station to Pleumeur-Bodou. A couple of weeks after, on 23 July 1962, Telstar was used for the first ever transatlantic television broadcast to the public. It started with still images of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, and these were supposed to be followed by live footage of President John F. Kennedy speaking at a press conference. However, the signal was acquired earlier than expected, and the President was not quite ready, instead it was switched to a televised baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

There was a pitch by Cal Koonce, a hit by Tony Taylor, and then the scene switched to JFK in Washington DC—presumably to the great annoyance of Phillies and Cubs fans. At the time, the Cold War was also unfolding, and this was to have unfortunate consequences for Telstar 1. High-altitude nuclear tests by the Soviets and the Americans—who exploded a bomb by the strange name of Starfish Prime—caused raised levels of radiation that overwhelmed the satellite’s sensitive transistors at the end of the year. It was eventually retired on 21 February 1963, but it is still orbiting us to the present day. As a side note, surf-rock group The Tornadoes released their feel-good instrumental hit “Telstar” in November 1962, and it became the first single by a British Band to top the US Billboard Hot 100. This Day in History Communications Satellites Short History COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES SHORT HISTORY Global Village Possible by David J. Whalen In 500 years, when humankind looks back at the dawn of space travel, Apollo's landing on the Moon in 1969 may be the only event remembered.

At the same time, however, Lyndon B. Johnson, himself an avid promoter of the space program, felt that reconnaissance satellites alone justified every penny spent on space. Weather forecasting has undergone a revolution because of the availability of pictures from geostationary meteorological satellites--pictures we see every day on television. All of these are important aspects of the space age, but satellite communications has probably had more effect than any of the rest on the average person. Satellite communications is also the only truly commercial space technology- -generating billions of dollars annually in sales of products and services. The Billion Dollar Technology In fall of 1945 an RAF electronics officer and member of the British Interplanetary Society, Arthur C. Clarke, wrote a short article in Wireless World that described the use of manned satellites in 24-hour orbits high above the world's land masses to distribute television programs. His article apparently had little lasting effect in spite of Clarke's repeating the story in his 1951/52 The Exploration of Space . Perhaps the first person to carefully evaluate the various technical options in satellite communications and evaluate the financial prospects was John R.

Pierce of AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories who, in a 1954 speech and 1955 article, elaborated the utility of a communications "mirror" in space, a medium-orbit "repeater" and a 24-hour-orbit "repeater." In comparing the communications capacity of a satellite, which he estimated at 1,000 simultaneous telephone calls, and the communications capacity of the first trans-atlantic telephone cable (TAT-1), which could carry 36 simultaneous telephone calls at a cost of 30-50 million dollars, Pierce wondered if a satellite would be worth a billion dollars. After the 1957 launch of Sputnik I, many considered the benefits, profits, and prestige associated with satellite communications. Because of Congressional fears of "duplication," NASA confined itself to experiments with "mirrors" or "passive" communications satellites (ECHO), while the Department of Defense was responsible for "repeater" or "active" satellites which amplify the received signal at the satellite--providing much higher quality communications.

In 1960 AT&T filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to launch an experimental communications satellite with a view to rapidly implementing an operational system. The U.S. government reacted with surprise-- there was no policy in place to help execute the many decisions related to the AT&T proposal. By the middle of 1961, NASA had awarded a competitive contract to RCA to build a medium-orbit (4,000 miles high) active communication satellite (RELAY); AT&T was building its own medium-orbit satellite (TELSTAR) which NASA would launch on a cost-reimbursable basis; and NASA had awarded a sole- source contract to Hughes Aircraft Company to build a 24-hour (20,000 mile high) satellite (SYNCOM). The military program, ADVENT, was cancelled a year later due to complexity of the spacecraft, delay in launcher availability, and cost over-runs. By 1964, two TELSTARs, two RELAYs, and two SYNCOMs had operated successfully in space.

This timing was fortunate because the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), formed as a result of the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, was in the process of contracting for their first satellite. COMSAT's initial capitalization of 200 million dollars was considered sufficient to build a system of dozens of medium-orbit satellites. For a variety of reasons, including costs, COMSAT ultimately chose to reject the joint AT&T/RCA offer of a medium-orbit satellite incorporating the best of TELSTAR and RELAY. They chose the 24-hour-orbit (geosynchronous) satellite offered by Hughes Aircraft Company for their first two systems and a TRW geosynchronous satellite for their third system. On April 6, 1965 COMSAT's first satellite, EARLY BIRD, was launched from Cape Canaveral. Global satellite communications had begun. The Global Village: International Communications Some glimpses of the Global Village had already been provided during experiments with TELSTAR, RELAY, and SYNCOM. These had included televising parts of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Although COMSAT and the initial launch vehicles and satellites were American, other countries had been involved from the beginning.

AT&T had initially negotiated with its European telephone cable "partners" to build earth stations for TELSTAR experimentation. NASA had expanded these negotiations to include RELAY and SYNCOM experimentation. By the time EARLY BIRD was launched, communications earth stations already existed in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Japan. Further negotiations in 1963 and 1964 resulted in a new international organization, which would ultimately assume ownership of the satellites and responsibility for management of the global system. On August 20, 1964, agreements were signed which created the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT). By the end of 1965, EARLY BIRD had provided 150 telephone "half- circuits" and 80 hours of television service. The INTELSAT II series was a slightly more capable and longer-lived version of EARLY BIRD. Much of the early use of the COMSAT/INTELSAT system was to provide circuits for the NASA Communications Network (NASCOM). The INTELSAT III series was the first to provide Indian Ocean coverage to complete the global network.

This coverage was completed just days before one half billion people watched APOLLO 11 land on the moon on July 20, 1969. From a few hundred telephone circuits and a handful of members in 1965, INTELSAT has grown to a present-day system with more members than the United Nations and the capability of providing hudreds of thousands of telephone circuits. Cost to carriers per circuit has gone from almost $100,000 to a few thousand dollars. Cost to consumers has gone from over $10 per minute to less than $1 per minute. If the effects of inflation are included, this is a tremendous decrease! INTELSAT provides services to the entire globe, not just the industrialized nations. Hello Guam: Domestic Communications In 1965, ABC proposed a domestic satellite system to distribute television signals. The proposal sank into temporary oblivion, but in 1972 TELESAT CANADA launched the first domestic communications satellite, ANIK, to serve the vast Canadian continental area. RCA promptly leased circuits on the Canadian satellite until they could launch their own satellite. The first U.S.

domestic communications satellite was Western Union's WESTAR I, launched on April 13, 1974. In December of the following year RCA launched their RCA SATCOM F- 1. In early 1976 AT&T and COMSAT launched the first of the COMSTAR series. These satellites were used for voice and data, but very quickly television became a major user. By the end of 1976 there were 120 transponders available over the U.S., each capable of providing 1500 telephone channels or one TV channel. Very quickly the "movie channels" and "super stations" were available to most Americans. The dramatic growth in cable TV would not have been possible without an inexpensive method of distributing video. The ensuing two decades have seen some changes: Western Union is no more; Hughes is now a satellite operator as well as a manufacturer; AT&T is still a satellite operator, but no longer in partnership with COMSAT; GTE, originally teaming with Hughes in the early 1960s to build and operate a global system is now a major domestic satellite operator.

Television still dominates domestic satellite communications, but data has grown tremendously with the advent of very small aperture terminals (VSATs). Small antennas, whether TV-Receive Only (TVRO) or VSAT are a commonplace sight all over the country. New Technology The first major geosynchronous satellite project was the Defense Department's ADVENT communications satellite. It was three-axis stabilized rather than spinning. It had an antenna that directed its radio energy at the earth. It was rather sophisticated and heavy. At 500-1000 pounds it could only be launched by the ATLAS- CENTAUR launch vehicle. ADVENT never flew, primarily because the CENTAUR stage was not fully reliable until 1968, but also because of problems with the satellite. When the program was canceled in 1962 it was seen as the death knell for geosynchronous satellites, three-axis stabilization, the ATLAS-CENTAUR, and complex communications satellites generally. Geosynchronous satellites became a reality in 1963, and became the only choice in 1965. The other ADVENT characteristics also became commonplace in the years to follow.

In the early 1960s, converted intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) were used as launch vehicles. These all had a common problem: they were designed to deliver an object to the earth's surface, not to place an object in orbit. Upper stages had to be designed to provide a delta-Vee (velocity change) at apogee to circularize the orbit. The DELTA launch vehicles, which placed all of the early communications satellites in orbit, were THOR IRBMs that used the VANGUARD upper stage to provide this delta-Vee. It was recognized that the DELTA was relatively small and a project to develop CENTAUR, a high-energy upper stage for the ATLAS ICBM, was begun. ATLAS-CENTAUR became reliable in 1968 and the fourth generation of INTELSAT satellites used this launch vehicle. The fifth generation used ATLAS-CENTAUR and a new launch-vehicle, the European ARIANE. Since that time other entries, including the Russian PROTON launch vehicle and the Chinese LONG MARCH have entered the market. All are capable of launching satellites almost thirty times the weight of EARLY BIRD.

In the mid-1970s several satellites were built using three-axis stabilization. They were more complex than the spinners, but they provided more despun surface to mount antennas and they made it possible to deploy very large solar arrays. The greater the mass and power, the greater the advantage of three-axis stabilization appears to be. Perhaps the surest indication of the success of this form of stabilization was the switch of Hughes, closely identified with spinning satellites, to this form of stabilization in the early 1990s. The latest products from the manufacturers of SYNCOM look quite similar to the discredited ADVENT design of the late 1950s. Much of the technology for communications satellites existed in 1960, but would be improved with time. The basic communications component of the satellite was thr traveling-wave-tube (TWT). These had been invented in England by Rudoph Kompfner, but they had been perfected at Bell Labs by Kompfner and J. R. Pierce. All three early satellites used TWTs built by a Bell Labs alumnus. These early tubes had power outputs as low as 1 watt.

Higher- power (50-300 watts) TWTs are available today for standard satellite services and for direct-broadcast applications. An even more important improvement was the use of high-gain antennas. Focusing the energy from a 1-watt transmitter on the surface of the earth is equivalent to having a 100-watt transmitter radiating in all directions. Focusing this energy on the Eastern U.S. is like having a 1000-watt transmitter radiating in all directions. The principal effect of this increase in actual and effective power is that earth stations are no longer 100-foot dish reflectors with cryogenically-cooled maser amplifiers costing as much as $10 million (1960 dollars) to build. Antennas for normal satellite services are typically 15-foot dish reflectors costing $30,000 (1990 dollars). Direct-broadcast antennas will be only a foot in diameter and cost a few hundred dollars. Mobile Services In February of 1976 COMSAT launched a new kind of satellite, MARISAT, to provide mobile services to the United States Navy and other maritime customers.

In the early 1980s the Europeans launched the MARECS series to provide the same services. In 1979 the UN International Maritime Organization sponsored the establishment of the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) in a manner similar to INTELSAT. INMARSAT initially leased the MARISAT and MARECS satellite transponders, but in October of 1990 it launched the first of its own satellites, INMARSAT II F-1. The third generation, INMARSAT III, has already been launched. An aeronautical satellite was proposed in the mid-1970s. A contract was awarded to General Electric to build the satellite, but it was canceled--INMARSAT now provides this service. Although INMARSAT was initially conceived as a method of providing telephone service and traffic-monitoring services on ships at sea, it has provided much more. The journalist with a briefcase phone has been ubiquitous for some time, but the Gulf War brought this technology to the public eye. The United States and Canada discussed a North American Mobile Satellite for some time.

In the next year the first MSAT satellite, in which AMSC (U.S.) and TMI (Canada) cooperate, will be launched providing mobile telephone service via satellite to all of North America. Competition In 1965, when EARLY BIRD was launched, the satellite provided almost 10 times the capacity of the submarine telephone cables for almost 1/10th the price. This price-differential was maintained until the laying of TAT-8 in the late 1980s. TAT-8 was the first fiber-optic cable laid across the Atlantic. Satellites are still competitive with cable for point-to-point communications, but the future advantage may lie with fiber-optic cable. Satellites still maintain two advantages over cable: they are more reliable and they can be used point-to-multi-point (broadcasting). Cellular telphone systems have risen as challenges to all other types of telephony. It is possible to place a cellular system in a developing country at a very reasonable price. Long-distance calls require some other technology, but this can be either satellites or fiber-optic cable. The LEO Systems Cellular telephony has brought us a new technological "system"-- the personal communications system (PCS).

In the fully developed PCS, the individual would carry his telephone with him. This telephone could be used for voice or data and would be usable anywhere. Several companies have committed themselves to providing a version of this system using satellites in low earth orbits (LEO). These orbits are significantly lower than the TELSTAR/RELAY orbits of the early 1960s. The early "low-orbit" satellites were in elliptical orbits that took them through the lower van Allen radiation belt. The new systems will be in orbits at about 500 miles, below the belt. The most ambitious of these LEO systems is Iridium, sponsored by Motorola. Iridium plans to launch 66 satellite into polar orbit at altitudes of about 400 miles. Each of six orbital planes, separated by 30 degrees around the equator, will contain eleven satellites. Iridium originally planned to have 77 satellites-- hence its name. Element 66 has the less pleasant name Dysprosium. Iridium expects to be providing communications services to hand- held telephones in 1998. The total cost of the Iridium system is well in excess of three billion dollars.

In addition to the "Big LEOS" such as Iridium and Globalstar, there are several "little leos." These companies plan to offer more limited services, typically data and radiodetermination. Typical of these is ORBCOM which has already launched an experimental satellite and expects to offer limited service in the very near future. Prospect and Retrospect Arthur C. Clarke's 1945 vision was of a system of three "manned" satellites located over the major land masses of the earth and providing direct-broadcase television. The inherent "broadcast" nature of satellite communications has made direct-broadcast a recurrent theme--yet one never brought to fruition. The problems are not technical--they are political, social, and artistic. What will people be willing to pay for? This is the question-- especially with the availability of 120-channel cable systems. Hughes is apparently about to enter this field and may encourage others to do the same. Only then will Clarke's prophetic vision be fulfilled. There are currently six companies providing fixed satellite service to the U.S.: GE Americom, Alascom, AT&T, COMSAT, GTE, and Hughes Communications.

They operate 36 satellites with a net worth of over four billion dollars. The gound stations which communicate with these satellites are innumerable and may have a similar net worth. INTELSAT has had competition in the international market from Pan American Satellite since 1986. Orion Satellite is expected to begin international service in 1994. Since Canada began domestic satellite service in 1972, that country has been joined by the United States (1974), Indonesia (1976), Japan (1978), India (1982), Australia (1985), Brazil (1985), Mexico (1985), and many others. Each year from 10-20 communications satellites are launched valued at about $75 million each. The launch vehicles placing them in orbit have similar values. Both satellites and launch vehicles are multi-billion dollar businesses. The earth station business is equally large. Finally the communications services themselves are multi-billion dollar businesses. John R. Pierce was right--it would be worth a billion dollars. A Selective Communications Satellite Chronology 1945 Arthur C.

Clarke Article: "Extra-Terrestrial Relays" 1955 John R. Pierce Article: "Orbital Radio Relays" 1956 First Trans-Atlantic Telephone Cable: TAT-1 1957 Sputnik: Russia launches the first earth satellite. 1960 1st Successful DELTA Launch Vehicle 1960 AT&T applies to FCC for experimental satellite communications license 1961 Formal start of TELSTAR, RELAY, and SYNCOM Programs 1962 TELSTAR and RELAY launched 1962 Communications Satellite Act (U.S.) 1963 SYNCOM launched 1965 COMSAT's EARLY BIRD: 1st commercial communications satellite 1969 INTELSAT-III series provides global coverage 1972 ANIK: 1st Domestic Communications Satellite (Canada) 1974 WESTAR: 1st U.S. Domestic Communications Satellite 1975 INTELSAT-IVA: 1st use of dual-polarization 1975 RCA SATCOM: 1st operational body-stabilized comm.

satellite 1976 MARISAT: 1st mobile communications satellite 1976 PALAPA: 3rd country (Indonesia) to launch domestic comm. satellite 1979 INMARSAT formed. communications satellite Encyclopedia > Science and Technology > Astronomy and Space Exploration > Space Exploration communications satellite communications satellite artificial satellite that functions as part of a global radio-communications network. Echo 1, the first communications satellite, launched in 1960, was an instrumented inflatable sphere that passively reflected radio signals back to earth. Later satellites carried with them electronic devices for receiving, amplifying, and rebroadcasting signals to earth. Relay 1, launched in 1962 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was the basis for Telstar 1, a commercially sponsored experimental satellite. Geosynchronous orbits (in which the satellite remains over a single spot on the earth's surface) were first used by NASA's Syncom series and Early Bird (later renamed Intelsat 1 ), the world's first commercial communications satellite. In 1962, the U.S. Congress passed the Communications Satellite Act, which created the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat).

Agencies from 17 other countries joined Comsat in 1964 in forming the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat) for the purpose of establishing a global commercial communications network. Renamed the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization in 1974 and a private corporation since 2001, Intelsat now has a network of 28 satellites in geosynchronous orbits that provides instantaneous communications throughout the world. It has orbited several series of Intelsat satellites, beginning with Intelsat 1 ( Early Bird ) in 1965. Inmarsat was established in 1979 to serve the maritime industry by developing satellite communications for ship management and distress and safety applications. Inmarsat was originally an intergovernmental organization called the International Maritime Satellite Organization but later changed its name to the International Mobile Satellite Organization to reflect its expansion into land, mobile, and aeronautical communications. In 1999 it became a private company as Inmarsat, and the International Mobile Satellite Organization became responsible for overseeing Inmarsat's public service obligations. Inmarsat's users now include thousands of people who live or work in remote areas without reliable terrestrial networks.

Inmarsat presently has ten satellites in geosynchronous orbits. In addition to the Intelsat and Inmarsat satellites, many others are in orbit, some managed by private companies and others by government-owned operators. These are used by individual countries, organizations, and commercial ventures for internal communications or for business or military use. A new generation of satellites, called direct-broadcast satellites, transmits directly to small domestic antennas to provide such services as cablelike television programming. See G. D. Gordon, Principles of Communications Satellites (1993); D. H. Martin, Communications Satellites, 1958–1995 (1996); B. G. Evans, ed., Satellite Communication Systems (3d ed. 1999). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Space Exploration First Communications Satellite Launched ⋆ History Channel Podcasts First Communications Satellite Launched On this day in 1962, Telstar 1—the first of many communications satellites called Telstar—was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. In subsequent years, many rockets were launched into space from the same site, including all the Apollo missions, starting with the tragic Apollo 1 launch pad test on 27 January 1967. Telstar was an unmanned craft, sent into Earth’s orbit as the first satellite to relay television signals all around the world. It brought in the new age of international communications via telephone and television, allowing picture and voice transmissions from America to Europe and back again. It was funded by the AT&T Corporation (the American Telephone and Telegraph Company)—in association with Bell Telephone Laboratories, the British General Post Office, the French Post, Telegraph and Telecom Office, and NASA—in order to allow transatlantic satellite transmissions, and it was the first privately sponsored spacecraft launch.

As well as Telstar itself, there were three ground stations to receive its signals: at Andover in Maine, at Goonhilly Downs in South-Western England, and at Pleumeur-Bodou in North-Western France. Every two and a half hours, Telstar completed an orbit of Earth, but it was only available for the 20 minutes when it was over the Atlantic. It was first tested the day after it took flight, on 11 July 1962, and it successfully transmitted live television footage of a flag from outside the Andover Earth Station to Pleumeur-Bodou. A couple of weeks after, on 23 July 1962, Telstar was used for the first ever transatlantic television broadcast to the public. It started with still images of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, and these were supposed to be followed by live footage of President John F. Kennedy speaking at a press conference. However, the signal was acquired earlier than expected, and the President was not quite ready, instead it was switched to a televised baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

There was a pitch by Cal Koonce, a hit by Tony Taylor, and then the scene switched to JFK in Washington DC—presumably to the great annoyance of Phillies and Cubs fans. At the time, the Cold War was also unfolding, and this was to have unfortunate consequences for Telstar 1. High-altitude nuclear tests by the Soviets and the Americans—who exploded a bomb by the strange name of Starfish Prime—caused raised levels of radiation that overwhelmed the satellite’s sensitive transistors at the end of the year. It was eventually retired on 21 February 1963, but it is still orbiting us to the present day. As a side note, surf-rock group The Tornadoes released their feel-good instrumental hit “Telstar” in November 1962, and it became the first single by a British Band to top the US Billboard Hot 100. This Day in History Telstar: Satellites Beamed First TV Signals Across the Ocean Start Over | More Quizzes Lucky first try Fortunately, unlike other satellites of the time, Telstar 1 launched on the first try.

It soared into space on July 10, 1962, from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The 34-inch (87 cm) spherical satellite, which weighed 171 pounds (77 kilograms), was inserted into an orbit of about 3,505 miles (5,640 kilometers) at its highest, and 903 miles (1,453 kilometers) at its lowest. This is quite different from the major communications satellites of today, which "hover" at one point above the surface in geosynchronous orbit , but bear in mind that this was a test. Telstar's first live television pictures in France — relayed only a few hours after launch, according to NASA — showed a U.S. flag outside of a receiving station in Maine. The satellite was also equipped to handle telephone calls and even picture faxes, and had an experiment that could examine the radiation in the Van Allen belts above Earth. "Telstar was a tremendous technical success, and the international reaction was spectacular," NASA later wrote in "Beyond the Ionosphere." "A U.S.

Information Agency (USIA) poll showed that Telstar was better known in Great Britain than Sputnik had been in 1957. Rather than launching a useless bauble, the Americans had put into orbit a satellite that promised to tie together the ears and eyes of the world." The satellite, in fact, was immortalized in a song in 1962. A British band called The Tornados created the song "Telstar," which hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 100 at the height of its popularity. Many years later, Susanna Hoff, lead singer of the Bangles, wrote a 1991 song that mentioned the satellite; it was called "Wishing on Telstar." Monopoly concerns Telstar 1 started to have transmission difficulties in November 1962, and eventually saw its transmitter fail in February 1963. Telstar 2 launched on May 7, 1963. It was practically a twin of Telstar 1, but in this case, the satellite lasted until it was turned off in 1965 — longer than its predecessor. AT&T had clearly demonstrated acumen in how to build and use a satellite.

They already had a monopoly in the telephone business, and according to NASA, there were those that feared that the monopoly could extend into space as well. "AT&T's preeminent position as the largest U.S. common carrier and sole international telephone carrier, together with its willingness and ability to commit large sums of money to the development of communications satellites, convincingly suggested that commercial satellite utilization would very likely become AT&T utilization," NASA wrote. In August 1962, President John F. Kennedy approved the Communications Satellite Act . This act had been in the works for several years. The act placed U.S. satellite communications under a federally supervised company (with joint participation from several U.S. firms) called the Communications Satellite Corporation, or Comsat. While AT&T was a participant in Comsat, this ensured that the company could not have a space-faring monopoly. Comsat was later a founder of an entity called Intelsat that focused on international satellite coverage. In 1970, the Federal Communications Commission — under the Open Skies Policy — opened up domestic satellite communications launches to all firms that were capable of doing it. Comsat and Intelsat still exist today, but under very different structures.

October 4, 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the manmade satellite. How well do you remember the past half-century in space? Take this 10-question quiz and test your knowledge of space history. Start Over | More Quizzes Telstar's legacy All in all, Telstar showed that the communications business was an area of great flux in the 1960s and 1970s. The Telstar satellites ushered in an era where satellites turned from experimental machines to sophisticated systems with great value to the companies producing them. A new wave of advanced geosynchronous spacecraft shares the Telstar name, but these commercial satellites are far more advanced than their predecessors. Telstar 301 launched in 1983, followed by Telstar 302 in 1984. Telstar 302, renamed Telstar 3C, was put into orbit by a Space shuttle Discovery crew. A dozen more satellites bearing the Telstar name have since been launched. Telstar 1 is still in orbit , as of February 2013, but it is no longer functional.

— Elizabeth Howell, SPACE.com Contributor Telstar 1 Photos: Legacy of 1st TV Communications Satellite July 12, 2012 06:07am ET MORE Telstar 1 Satellite Credit: Bell Labs Image of the Telstar 1 satellite. Telstar was launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and was the first privately sponsored space-faring mission. Two days later, it relayed the world's first transatlantic television signal, from Andover Earth Station, Maine, to the Pleumeur-Bodou Telecom Center, Brittany, France. Telstar Launch Credit: NASA Telstar launch on July 10, 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Fla.. Developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories for AT&T, Telstar was the world's first active communications satellite and the world's first commercial payload in space. Telstar 3-D Communications Satellite Deploying from Discovery's Payload Bay Credit: NASA Telstar 3-D communications satellite deploying from Discovery's payload bay, June 17, 1985. Cloudy Earth's surface can be seen to the left of the frame.

Hughes Aircraft Technicians Work on Telstar 3 Credit: NASA Hughes Aircraft technicians, monitored by AT and T customers, work on the Telstar 3 satellite being readied in Hanger AM at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for launch on Mission 41-D on July 27, 1984. Mission Control Center during STS 41-D Credit: NASA Flight controllers observe downlinked TV scenes of the deployment of Telstar 3 from their consoles in the flight control room (FCR-1) of JSC's mission control center. The image was taken Sep. 1, 1984. Deployment of the Telstar Communications Satellite Credit: NASA The cylindrical spacecraft spins and rises past the shuttle stabilizer from its protective shield in the space shuttle payload bay. This image was taken Aug. 30, 1984. Telstar I on Parade Credit: NASA Telstar I satellite at the parade of progress show at the public hall in Cleveland, Ohio. The image was taken Aug. 14, 1964. Telstar I on Parade Credit: NASA Telstar I satellite at the parade of progress show at the public hall in Cleveland, Ohio. The image was taken Aug.

14, 1964. ECHO Horn Antenna Credit: NASA The Horn reflector antenna at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey was built in 1959 for pioneering work in communication satellites for the NASA ECHO I. The image was taken in June 1962. 41-D Mission Payloads Credit: NASA View of 41-D mission payloads after loading into the orbiter payload bay. The image was taken Aug. 29, 1984. previous | next The Birth of Satellite TV, 50 Years Ago - History in the Headlines The Birth of Satellite TV, 50 Years Ago July 23, 2012 By Christopher Klein Technicians work on the Telstar satellite. (Credit: Keystone/Getty Images) Share this: The Birth of Satellite TV, 50 Years Ago Author The Birth of Satellite TV, 50 Years Ago URL Google In television’s early years, North American and European viewers had to wait hours, if not days, for tapes to be shipped across the Atlantic in order to watch footage from the other side of the ocean. That all changed 50 years ago after the launch of the first telecommunications satellite: Telstar.

On July 23, 1962, tens of millions of people watched a historic broadcast as Telstar beamed live transatlantic video into viewers’ living rooms for the first time. The age of satellite television had dawned. In homes across Rome, people barely touched their dinners. London’s pubs were packed, but bartenders served nary a drink. Throughout Europe, more than 100 million people huddled around television sets on the evening of July 23, 1962, to tune in to history. With Europeans watching eagerly, a black-and-white image of the Statue of Liberty flickered onto their screens. The picture itself was not particularly noteworthy except for one thing: it was live, via satellite. The historic, live transatlantic broadcast was made possible by Telstar, a spherical satellite only the size of a large beach ball. Built by AT&T and dreamed up in Bell Labs, now the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent, Telstar received telephone calls, data, still pictures and fax images from ground stations in Andover, Maine, and France before amplifying them and relaying them across the Atlantic Ocean.

A nickel cadmium battery and 3,600 solar cells protected by sapphire powered the 170-pound satellite, which roared into orbit from Cape Canaveral atop a NASA Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. Since AT&T paid NASA $3 million to launch the satellite, Telstar marked the first privately sponsored space initiative. After a successful initial test of the transatlantic television signal, the public rollout occurred during that special broadcast on July 23, 1962, which aired in Canada and 16 European countries and on all three major American networks. Telstar could only broadcast signals when it was visible to ground stations on both sides of the Atlantic, meaning there was only a 20-minute transmission window during each two-and-a-half-hour orbit. The first 20-minute broadcast beamed by Telstar, referred to as a “television space extravaganza” by The Boston Globe, was slated to begin at 3 p.m. Eastern but started a couple minutes ahead of schedule as soon as Telstar came into range.

As a monumental split screen—with the Statue of Liberty on the left side and the Eiffel Tower on the right—filled television screens in Europe and North America, legendary newsman Walter Cronkite intoned, “Good evening, Europe. This is the North American continent live via AT&T Telstar, July 23, 1962.” Viewers were then given a peek inside Chicago’s Wrigley Field at a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs. For many Europeans, it was the first time they had ever seen the sport. After Philadelphia’s Tony Taylor flied out and Johnny Callison followed with a hard-hit single to right field in the top of the third, the audience was switched to President John F. Kennedy’s press conference in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, viewers missed Kennedy’s opening remarks praising Telstar as “another indication of the extraordinary world in which we live” and instead listened to questions and answers on nuclear testing and the devaluation of the dollar.

The program then bounced around with live scenes from the U.S.-Mexican border at Juarez, Niagara Falls, the World’s Fair in Seattle and the United Nations; a talk with astronauts at Cape Canaveral; and a look at actors at the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, rehearsing “Macbeth.” The finale featured close-ups of the stone faces of Mount Rushmore as the 312-member Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Three hours later, on Telstar’s next orbit around the planet, it was Europe’s turn to broadcast live images to North American viewers for the first time. The European program opened with live pictures of London’s Big Ben and a welcome by the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby, hosting from Brussels. The broadcast was a televised Grand Tour of the continent’s great sites: the Sistine Chapel, the Champs-Élysées, the Louvre, the Colosseum and the Tower of London. In one scene, viewers saw a Lapland girl in the Arctic Circle; in the next, Sicilian fishermen tending their nets.

There were cultural morsels from paintings inside Yugoslavia’s national museum to horses performing to Chopin at Vienna’s famed Spanish Riding School to a performance of “La Tosca” amid ancient Roman ruins. After 19 minutes, the program abruptly ended as Telstar passed over the horizon, out of range of the ground station in Maine. While there were some minor flaws such as pictures that jumped or were out of focus, “the technical achievement was little short of awesome,” wrote New York Times television critic Jack Gould. Another newspaper account the next day said that Telstar had “shrunk the earth overnight.” In Europe, the baseball game proved to be the program’s most popular segment, certainly compared to the presidential press conference. As a Daily Mail television critic said, he “preferred to watch Americans play games than talk politics.” Telstar—with a moniker that still sounds cool and futuristic—instantly became geek chic. Within days of the television broadcast, Paris fashion designers rolled out Telstar ensembles.

Weeks later, the British band The Tornados hit number one on British and American charts with the futuristic instrumental song “Telstar.” Even in the 1970s and 1980s, Telstar lent its name to a Ford automobile, a primitive Coleco video game system and a black-and-white checkered soccer ball designed by Adidas that looked very similar to the satellite. Although a pop culture icon, Telstar 1 had a short life. Radiation from both American and Soviet high-altitude atomic tests bombarded the satellite and fried its transistors. Telstar went out of service in November 1962, came back online briefly but went quiet for good on February 21, 1963. Telstar 2 launched in May 1963, and other Telstar satellites followed it into orbit. While inoperable, Telstar 1 still circles the earth today, a monument to the birth of satellite communications. Tags

Question: What was the name of the first communications satellite, launched in 1962?
Answer: Telstar