Telstar satellite

In 1962, the satellite era was still in its infancy. It had been only five years since Sputnik had arrived in orbit, and though there had been a smattering of launches since then (for the U.S., that included Explorer 1, Courier, and TIROS), NASA scientists and other researchers were still laying down their base of knowledge and there were many firsts yet to be achieved.

So it was with Telstar, which, after Sputnik, may be the second most famous satellite in history. On July 12, 1962, Telstar relayed the first transatlantic television signal, which traveled from the Andover Earth Station in northwestern Maine to the Pleumeur-Bodou Telecom Center in Brittany, France.