This is the second of a two-part series on the history of commercial flight. For years, aerospace corporations took the world to the skies. Now these companies and more are supporting efforts well beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The Space Age began on Oct. 4, 1957, with the launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union. An American satellite, Explorer 1, soon followed, with plans for sending humans into space in the near future.
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.
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.