Telstar Sat Launched 50 Years Ago!

History is about to be made - as old newsreel begins, and possibly, played before the main feature at local movie theaters of era. Telstar launched July 10, 1962 - 50 years ago - from Cape Canaveral!  The first communications satellite to relay TV signals across the Atlantic ocean, President John F Kennedy comments on momentous event in video.  It's also humbling to note, how brief our wired, plugged-in adventure with satellite communications has been - just five decades!  There's a chance either solar flares or EMP attacks, could unplug our wired world in an instant!  Do you wonder whatever happened to Telstar?  You can learn satellite's short-lived fate here.  It was big news a long time ago - television transmissions relayed across the globe - but worth taking moment to remember!

what happened to telstar?

Whatever happened to Telstar? The first communications satellite (COMSAT) to relay television signals launched from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962. A video of the launch can be viewed here. Telstar's Wikipedia entry reveals the COMSAT was a victim of the cold war. "The day before Telstar 1 was launched, the United States had tested a high-altitude nuclear bomb (called Starfish Prime) which energized the Earth's Van Allen Belt where Telstar 1 went into orbit. This vast increase in radiation, combined with subsequent high-altitude blasts, including a Soviet test in October, overwhelmed Telstar's fragile transistors..." The satellite went out of service permanently on February 21, 1963. The AT&T-owned satellite inspired The Tornados to a number one hit in the UK and the US also named after the satellite, 'Telstar'.

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