NASA’s Balloon-Shaped Satellite Celebrates 50 Years in Space – FireWire

The world took a step forward on July 10, 1962, when NASA launched Telstar, the first communications satellite in history. This ball-shaped device, from which the Mexico 70 World Cup ball was inspired, helped television broadcasts and phone calls.

expression was born Live via satellite.

Fifty years later, the Telstar is still in space, as evidence of man’s ability to advance technologically.

Bell Telephone Laboratories developed Telstar for AT&T, Proving the feasibility of transmitting information via satellite. In addition, he studied the influence of the Van Allen radiation belts on satellite design.

Sending the Telstar satellite into space

It was delivered from Space Launch Complex 17 B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 10, 1962. For launch into orbit, it was carried by a Thor/Delta 316 rocket.

Two days later, it transmitted the world’s first transatlantic television signal, from the ground station in Andover, Maine, to the telecommunications center Bloumore-Beaudeau in Brittany, France.

As NASA explains on its Telstar page, The 77-kilogram device is powered by energy captured by solar panels, along with a battery backup system.

Before, in order for people to find out what was happening in another part of the world on the screen, they had to take the cassette to the site, after recording.

NASA states that in 1953, television crews were in the United States She recorded Queen Elizabeth’s coronation at Westminster Abbey, London, and edited the film while traveling to New York: And so, hours later, the American public could see on their screens the arrival of the current Queen of England (!).

Telstar for NASA and the United States in general is a source of pride

The first pictures he transmitted were those of President John F Kennedy and French singer Yves Montaigne, In addition to clips from sporting events, photos of waving the American flag, and a picture of Mount Rushmore.

Kennedy said after its launch that it is “a prominent symbol of America’s space achievement.”

It only operated for a few months, carrying short-lived TV signals for stations in Maine and France. Each of them had a large microwave antenna mounted on bearings, which allowed tracking the satellite during half an hour orbiting the area.

On May 7, 1963, NASA sent Telstar 2 into space, more advanced than its older brother.

Today, the story is different, and Technology allows us to instantly know what is happening anywhere on the planet from our smartphones in the highest quality.

But the first kick was launched by a balloon-shaped satellite called Telstar.