Today in 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

 

Today is a momentous day we all take for granted. On 23 July 1962, 50 years ago, Telstar 1 was launched on a Thor-Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Before the telecommunications satellite were launched in the early 1960s, there was no live TV coverage of news and sports as we are used to today. This happened in my lifetime and it is awesome to think about.

It was part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National PTT (Post, Telegraph & Telecom Office) to develop experimental satellite communications over the Atlantic Ocean.

A successor, Syncom 3, broadcasted pictures from the 1964 Summer Olympics.

(Image courtesy NASA and Wikipedia)