TELSTAR II LAUNCHED
Telstar II, a communications satellite, was successfully launched into orbit today from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The satellite is a joint venture of NASA, Bell Laboratories & AT&T.
It is nearly identical to Telstar I which was launched last year but began to malfunction this past February.
Like Telstar I, Telstar II will make it possible for live television images to be transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.
Telstar II
Photo from The Goddard Library
NASA
May 7, 1961
HO CHI MINH RE-ELECTED
Ho Chi Minh was re-elected today as president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.*
*Ho Chi Minh served as president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. He died on September 2, 1969.
Ho Chi Minh with East German Sailors
Stralsund Harbor, 1957
Photograph from
Deutsches Bundes Archiv
May 7, 1954
FRENCH DEFEATED AT DIEN BIEN PHU
40,000 Viet Minh troops surrounded the French position at Dien Bien Phu today.
The battle began with a massive Viet Minh artillery barrage, followed by an infantry assault.
The French, with 15,000 troops, were over matched.
During the siege, 1600 French troops were killed & 8000 more captured.*
The struggle between the French & Viet Minh began in 1946. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French involvement in SE Asia.
Viet Minh Memorial at Dien Bien Phu
Photograph by Mztourist (1997)
May 7, 1946
TOKYO TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING COMPANY IS FOUNDED
Musaru Ibuka & Akio Morita have co-founded a new telecommunications company today in Tokyo, Japan.
The Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company will be manufacturing Japan's 1st tape recorder, the Type-G.*
*TTEC will become SONY, the 1st company in the world to make transistors commercially successful.
The SONY transistor radio will be manufactured in 1955 & revolutionize electronics in America & around the world.
The name SONY comes from Sonus (Latin for sound) & Sonny (American for boy).
IEEE Musaru Ibuka Award
Photo from IEEE
May 7, 1915
LUSITANIA TORPEDOED BY GERMAN SUB
The largest, fastest & most luxurious passenger liner in the world, The Lusitania, was sunk today by a single German torpedo fired from a U-boat or submarine.
While the luxury liner, on its way from New York City to Liverpool, was sailing in the "war zone", there is no indication a warning was given prior to the attack.
Witnesses say the liner sank within 18 to 21 minutes of the torpedo's explosion in the forward hold.
1,198 lives have been lost, 128 of these were American citizens.*
*It was learned much later that the Lusitania was carrying tons of contraband munitions from the US, a neutral at the time, to Great Britain, at war with Germany.
RMS Lusitania
