Space, Space History, Technology and Society

Telstar

14 Comments

Happy fiftieth anniversary to the very first communications satellite. Sadly, I’m old enough to remember the day it happened. That was an exciting year, between Glenn’s flight and it. The space age seemed so young and full of promise to a kid.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here’s the newsreel. That brings back memories.

[Update late morning]

Speaking of Glenn, Amy Shira Teitel has a story on the Atlas reliability prior to his flight. It was about fifty percent.

14 thoughts on “Telstar”

  1. You ARE an old guy! It must have been great to experience it real-time; I can’t imagine how seat-of-the-pants NASA used to be and how they actually did such great things.

    My first vivid memory of the space program was being pulled out of recess by my third grade teacher (she knew I was really interested in space) and being told the Challenger had exploded.

    Here’s hoping for happier times to come! My son is the same age today that I was then, so we can talk about how exciting it is for Dragon to dock with the space station.

  2. It’s not sad that we remember these things Rand, it’s great. Consider what people have to remember now.

    There’s the…or, uh…those, um…I got nuthin’.

    Comparing Telstar and Gemini with the end of our ability to go even to LEO is just depressing. I sometimes wonder if this empty feeling I have is how the Brits felt after WWII, when they realized their ’empire’ days were over.

    Not that we are or were an empire, but we are fading fast, IMO as a world leader.

  3. Yes, as the first private spacecraft launched into space (it was fully owned by AT&T) it’s launch marked the birth of the space commerce age.

    1. Oreville,

      I think you mean the Falcon, which is the launch vehicle for the Dragon.

      Also you would expect some progress in 50 years…

  5. I was only four years old in 1962. My main memory of Telstar came in second grade, when we were assembled in the auditorium to watch a movie about it. I couldn’t see it very well from where I was sitting, so I kept scooching my chair forward closer to the screen. Eventually my teacher kicked me out and sent me to detention. I was hopping mad. But shortly thereafter a visit to the eye doctor revealed that I was nearsighted, and I’ve been wearing glasses ever since.

  6. Technically, Telstar was the first active communications satellite and as such holds an important place in space history. However, the first communications satellites were two passive Echo I. They weren’t all that successful but they did work, after a fashion. They were certainly a better idea than the Westford Needles.

  8. Living in Perth, Western Australia at the time I remember getting up at 4 AM or so to see Apollo 13 half an orbit after launch. I put binoculars on it and with the tank venting and RCS gases I guess, it made quite a fuzzy image.

  9. I, too, remember Telstar. As well, I remember Telstar I going dark because it was in an orbit that put it smack-dab into high radiation, eventually frying it out. Telstar II didn’t. But by that time, AT&T was ruled by the G’mint to not be allowed to pursue comsats — monopoly yanno. // Remember the *song* “Telstar?” Every time I hear that I hear…the approach of *The Future!* // Finally, the first communications satellite was the Atlas Score satellite of December 1958. Look it up. And yes, that’s a pedant-ly quibble that can easily be refuted.

  10. I remember when we used to be able to watch the Olympics live via satellite. Now I guess we have to wait for the carrier pigeons to bring ferry the tapes over.

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