Telstar, the satellite that made the
world’s first transmissions of live television possible in 1962, will be the
subject of a program at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on 12th July. The “Telstar 50th Anniversary” symposium, which will begin at 1.30 p.m.,
will be presented in co-operation with the Embassy of France.
It will begin with
a satellite television connection to the Pleumeur-Bodou Telecommunications
Museum in France commemorating the first global transmission of a television
signal 50 years ago.
“It was that rarest of all television
moments, the kind that compels viewers to lean forward and stare in a primal
wonder and amazement at their screens” was how newscaster Walter Cronkite
described a Telstar-enabled public broadcast that occurred about two weeks
after the satellite’s launch and first test transmission on 10th July. A
multinational event, the 23rd July broadcast was carried by American networks
CBS, NBC and ABC as well as CBC in Canada and Eurovision in Europe.
The first
pictures were of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. Although the
programme was to have begun with remarks by President John F. Kennedy, the talk
was delayed and a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the
Chicago Cubs was televised in its place.
The symposium will be presented in two parts.
Secretary of the Smithsonian Wayne Clough will begin the satellite connection
between the two museums. French Ambassador François Delattre and the U.S.
General Consul in France, Robert Tate, will also speak.
“Live broadcast of events happening throughout
the world are taken for granted today, but 50 years ago transmissions enabled
by Telstar captured the attention and imaginations of people everywhere,” said
Clough. “The 50th anniversary reminds us how far we have come, and how much
potential there is the new era of digital communications.”
Following the satellite connection,
historians and experts from industry and government will discuss Telstar’s
historical significance, its impact on commercial space endeavors and the birth
of global communications. Footage from the original 1962 broadcast between
France and the United States on 12th July will be shown at the symposium.
Concluding remarks will be delivered by State Department Assistant Secretary
Kerri-Ann Jones.
Telstar 1 launched on 10th July 1962 from Cape Canaveral and was the
first privately sponsored space-faring mission. It handled a variety of
transmissions, including telephone, fax, data, still pictures and television
signals from several locations across the United States and Europe. The
original Telstar was part of an agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories,
NASA, the British General Post Office and the French National Post Telegraph
and Telecom Office. The satellite was built at Bell Telephone Laboratories. A
small model of Telstar 1 will be on display during the symposium.
