TelstarIn 1962, Telstar 1, the world's first geosynchronous active communications satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida., to relay TV and telephone signals between the United States and Europe. Pioneered by AT&T, it set the stage for far easier access to information, with much greater speed. When Telstar was put into service for the first satellite television broadcast, it made possible the first live television signals sent across the Atlantic. Viewers in France and England saw President Kennedy conduct a press conference, and audiences in the United States watched French singer Yves Montand and the changing of the guard at England's Buckingham Palace. A U.S. passive telecommunications satellite, Echo 1, had been launched 12 Aug 1960. |
