AT&T Archives: Telstar!

the place and over me it is the night of July 9 1962 what will tomorrow bring success or crashing faith telephone men drive through the lonely Hills of Andover to make final tests on the electronic gear that may or may not find and communicate with a tiny spinning globe thousands of miles in space in all too few hours the satellite will rise from a Florida beach and over are betting on tomorrow poised on its rocket at Cape Canaveral is the incredibly complex globe thirty four and a half inches in diameter Telstar waiting - important horn everybody another horn focuses on the sky at Holmdel New Jersey the horn that first caught signals from the echo balloon in the pre-launch hours a second group of telephone scientists make ready operating satisfactory calibrations calibrations normal check after that report try a pretty dry papers ready clocks synchronized it's not the synchronized rear bumpers check the era buffer eject okay I guess we're all set no end over home down here yes we're all set ready to go lemare bow do brittany france across the Atlantic - there is quiet expectancy in this corner of historic countryside months of intense activity of consultation and construction are focused on a few crucial hours here beneath its radome weights another great horn antenna sister of the one at Andover across the channel at Geun hilly down in Cornwall the British antenna is also poised on the predicted path of Telstar the bird this focal point of concentrated attention on both sides of the Atlantic will be the first active communication satellite in space if all goes well all stations report for communications check antennae at set air at Cape Canaveral private industry and government work shoulder-to-shoulder under a unique arrangement in this project the satellite was built the launch bought and paid for by Bell Telephone Bell Labs men are old hands at Canaveral their job guidance control putting satellites into exact orbits flooding board plenty more play catch control the Saphira control the radars ready to acquire the missile Roger radar control stand by we should be picking up terminal count a few minutes this is spacecraft test control all spacecraft test positions please depart very nearby in adjacent vans is Telstar control the telephone men who must make certain that the spear is in prime condition up to and through its launch averages ready console is ready tracker is ready fish craft advisor this is tossed under control how do things look in the Mission Control Center the star control this is spacecraft advisor the range status is goal the mission director just gave a go to the blockhouse mission direct at the launch the launch itself will be under the direction of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on our stations spacecraft mission is go on the blockhouse firing line of fourth team again NASA and Douglas Aircraft and Aerojet backing up the Bell system for all a common target a mutual objective Telstar receives the sieving that will protect it in the abrasive journey through Earth's atmosphere launch is set for 335 a.m. Eastern Standard Time the launch vehicle is the 90-foot three-stage Delta successful in nine space ventures the final count is coming up all systems are green at all sites the word is gold this precise moment has been a long time in the making as early as 1954 at the Bell Telephone laboratories in Murray Hill New Jersey the possibilities of satellite communications had been foreseen by dr. John R Pierce although three years were the past before Sputnik one rocked the world dr. Pierce's ideas helped spark the search for Telstar even then there was little doubt of the eventual need for improved means of communicating overseas across the United States microwave towers docked for Horizon great volumes of messages and TV shows can be flashed from point to point supplementing other land lines to help provide the communication channels the nation required but when the ocean is reached there are no power at our in this ocean tall enough to do the job or a string of towers is obviously impractical but if such a tower could fly then Americans and all the people of the world would have an exciting addition to their communication toolkits a ring of flying microwave towers could assure continuous overseas transmission help meet the communication demands that are growing with each passing day the credit patel store properly belongs to scientific development based on research that reaches out ahead of man's immediate needs Telstar is the sum of many men's efforts over the years when the need for communicating by satellite became apparent the products of Bell Labs research were on hand to be a part of project tell store and to make it work gigantic things like the Andover antenna weight 380 tons yet built with the relative accuracy of a fine watch so precise that it can track its target within one fiftieth of one degree for its forerunner at Holmdel New Jersey at the heart of each of these huge antennas is a special FM feedback receiver and a ruby maser which operates at 456 degrees below zero together they pick up a faint signal only one billionth of a walk strong and boost it back to a usable level tiny things are equally important transistors without them Telstar could not relay messages in space and rockets could not be so precisely directed or controlled solar batteries to borrow power from the Sun and keep tell stars electronic gear alive these inventions and more products of telephone research were on hand when the time came for Bell Labs to put the first Telstar together at its hillside New Jersey location 10,000 electronic components to go in a thirty four and a half inch Bowl each sub assembly packed in plastic form the burbs framed in magnesium with a shell of aluminum 3,600 sapphire covered solar cells mounted in platinum Telstar reached the dust free purity of its assembly in hospital operating room atmosphere nothing was left to chance vibration tests transmission tests in a simulated space chamber solar battery tests under artificial Suns on a brilliant June day Telstar arrives at Canaveral after its thousand mile journey from New Jersey security police formats escort missiles and payloads are royalty at Canaveral tell store rides in a special air-conditioned truck behind it are years of unremitting labor it's not the things that are known that bother the scientists now but the things still unknown so of more immediate concern is the question how has the bird fared on the trip south after transfer from truck to Telstar satellite van a band goes around the new stores equator cables are attached for another tough physical and solar cells antenna satellite transmission and telemetry are checked okay so cool smoothly fitting into the timetable Douglas starts the movement of its booster on to the launching area and into the gantry the meticulous time-consuming seating of the rocket on the pad begins the bird moves to NASA spin test building there it is mated to the third stage booster that package of highly dangerous explosive that will give tell store its final orbital speed and started spin through space spring steel coils tightly ready to thrust the bird from its nest on a spin table it is rotated as it will be in the sky a hundred and eighty revolutions a minute safe beyond dugout walls the Douglas engineers perform the dangerous task of balancing the spinning core bandits mate to guarantee stability in space again the band and the cables again check and reach it spin test antenna to tell store antenna to tell store control check and reach it can't for protection and transport the messenger of space moves on its cautious way up the gantry Telstar weighs in at 170 pounds its family tree is an impressive history for every one of its components was subjected to months of light tests and pedigree papers were accumulated on each paw with this sort of survival of the fittest approach Telstar should have the makings of a champion it's a million-dollar baby and every move it makes is watched by anxious Guardians third stage and satellite lower gently to a mating with the second stage mark tomorrow Telstar travel plans include an elliptical orbit with a low point of 600 miles a high point of 3500 miles an elapsed time of approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes for each orbit again the cables are attached for one last examination check and recheck there are contradictions in this kind of pioneering nylon gloves in a bare fisted fight contamination is an enemy and thundering explosive forces are subjected to my new checks the cable is removed last connection made the face of a self fastened the baby is buttoned up the fairing goes on clamshell seal against Earth's atmosphere t-pod to be tossed aside in space no more check and recheck Telstar is on its own Dame urges in tonight the gantry pulls back for better or for worse Delta rocket and mated Telstar satellite stand alone now the order comes clear the area only launched personnel are left the final count stand by to pick up the count on my mark four separate groups linked by a communication system Bell Labs guidance tell store control NASA's Mission Control and NASA Douglas and Aerojet in the blockhouse watch director - mission director mission director here would you give me the mission status please the mission is go Roger thank you dad control steering checks are complete the radar is preparing for guidance Oh Roger report pto Spanish ptl's ready on director we have received clear to launch 150 start remote camera number one started close block event closed console start camera Bank tape recorders Cameron mag tape off - ten nine eight seven six five three ptl's tracking banking okay Aditya was 70 seconds mark ppl trucking first age guidance okay on course pickup signal at this time will you alright looks good and azmuth still little pick up sequence to sequence three sequence for separation very good she's been up and burnout have been reported and over this is Telstar control at Canal row we've got good news daaang station then paper reports third stage burnout scene Doppler track at the Cape looks good I think we've got an orbit we'll keep you posted as to what we see Roger we will initiate test series on fifth path when pinpoint orbit was assured Cape Canaveral said to handover we put it up there now you find it and talk to it the big task begins command tracker precision tracker Bighorn fastened on Telstar's predicted by seeking searching for an infinitesimal speck in space racing along at 16,000 miles an hour like finding a golf ball over 200 miles away director this is ground control mission state established project station is the mission statement third condition operators hold on this line pending satellite expected rise time sending station identification the satellite is rising over the horizon we have a detected stick the command tracker has acquired Roger the face why don't you just wins a lot bullseye and over is dead on target with the news men of press and television looking on the experiment is out in the open in the American Way they will succeed the chips are done they will succeed the presses will roll the television cameras scan the event will tell star work in Washington DC distinguished guests wait and watch expectantly before a large closed-circuit TV screen Vice President Johnson is there with mr. McNeely president of AT&T and Senators Kerr and Smith congressman Miller Harris and Albert senators Dirksen Symington Magnuson and pastori and administrate a web of NASA and the Federal Communications Commission watches the show at Andover the first test is coming up will Telstar receive a telephone message from her amplify it and return it to earth fr Capital AT&T board chairman will speak with the vice president of the United States the connections go in good evening mr. vice president this is Fred capital calling from the earth station at Andover Maine the calls being relayed through our Telstar satellite as I am sure you know how do you hear me you're coming through nicely mr. Capel well that's wonderful since you're also a head of the space Constance mr. vice president I suppose you followed with considerable interest the activities today which have resulted in this call the first telephone message in the world as a matter of fact over an active satellite indeed I have of mr. Capel the progress the satellite the time it was launched earlier this morning from Cape Canaveral by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been most gratifying to all Americans I'm sure millions of them have been proud of the distant which is another first in our conquest of space well I think the people of this country are pleased with this demonstration of cooperation between government and private industry the team worked this morning at Cape Canaveral which I witnessed was outstanding I quite agree and I think this is a matter of satisfaction for every citizen of the nation I'm certain that the results of the teller star test will be most valuable in providing some of the knowledge needed to bring into operations a very fine commercial communication satellite system we will most hopeful of this and certainly pleased at this performance so far good night sir and thank you a great deal full steam and / plunges into a second big question can tell star handled the special requirements of television the picture goes out into space the answer lifts American art then a bonus a surprise and unexpected first they've been our lijo we just get an announcement right now this the French station has the picture it's an excellent clear believe we made an international gas there's no telling well let me congratulate you then the photograph of Telstar is transmitted to the satellite and sent back to earth the first facsimile transmission next to 500 word stories flash from earth to satellite to earth tape punching out news data transmission at over a thousand words a minute the following day Telstar brings a voice and a face from France to the television sets of the United States - the next year star pass we receive the dry understatement of our English cousins on my immediate left I have John Taylor who is in charge of our space research and develop the first international telephone calls are between AT&T president Eugene McNeely and communication officials in France and England in an historic first President Kennedy's news conference is televised overseas I understand that part of today's press conference is being relayed by the telecommunications satellite to viewers across the Atlantic and this is another indication of the extraordinary world in which we live so let's participate in this operation developed by private industry launched by government in admirable cooperation Telstar is a scientific success more than that it carries with it through space the hope that someday all men will see and talk to each other as friends you you you

Channel: AT&T Tech Channel

Views: 145,840

Rating: 4.9231935 out of 5

Keywords: AT&T Tech Channel, AT&T Archives, AT&T, History, Communications, Invention, Satellites, Television, Phone, Space, Science

Id: uKH-GijnAGk

Length: 27min 23sec (1643 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 14 2011