When events happen anywhere in the world, from sporting activities to natural disasters, television is there. Images are live, in color and in high definition. But that it is available at all is possible with satellites in Earth orbit. While global TV coverage is common today, it is a technology born the day Telstar was launched more than half a century ago.
In the summer of 1969, the voice of Jack King was immortalized as he provided the countdown for the liftoff for the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. He was selected as the first chief of Public Information at the Florida spaceport in 1960. During a news media event just prior to the flight of America’s first person in space, King was witness to a prank by one of NASA’s Project Mercury astronauts.
On the evening of Jan. 31, 1958, the United States orbited its first satellite — Explorer 1. The effort was part of the nation’s participation in the International Geophysical Year (IGY), a peaceful scientific endeavor. It also marked America’s first step in the Space Race of the Cold War.
Project Gemini is often referred to as the “bridge to the Moon.” It spanned the period between Project Mercury, America’s first efforts to determine if humans could survive in space, and the Apollo lunar landing flights. Looking back across a half-century, Gemini proved to be a bridge to the future.