TELSTAR II LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT
Cape Canaveral, Florida (JFK+50) On May 7, 1963, Telstar II*, a communications satellite, was successfully launched into orbit from here at the Cape. The satellite, which used two transmitters, was a joint venture of NASA, Bell Laboratories and American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation.
Telstar II was nearly identical to Telstar I which was launched in 1962 but began to malfunction in February 1963. Like Telstar I, Telstar II made possible the transmission of live television images across the Atlantic Ocean. The satellite carried an experiment designed to measure the energetic proton and electron distribution in the Van Allen belts**.
Telstar II operated without fault until its VHF transmitter was turned off at orbit #4736.
*Telstar was part of a communications system developed by AT&T beginning in the fall of 1960. The system would include 50 to 120 active satellites in orbit at 7000 miles. The estimated cost of this system was $500 million.
**Van Allen radiation belts are zones of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind.
SOURCE
"Telstar 1, 2," Gunter's Space Page, www.space.skyrocket.de/
Cape Canaveral, Florida (JFK+50) On May 7, 1963, Telstar II*, a communications satellite, was successfully launched into orbit from here at the Cape. The satellite, which used two transmitters, was a joint venture of NASA, Bell Laboratories and American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation.
Telstar II was nearly identical to Telstar I which was launched in 1962 but began to malfunction in February 1963. Like Telstar I, Telstar II made possible the transmission of live television images across the Atlantic Ocean. The satellite carried an experiment designed to measure the energetic proton and electron distribution in the Van Allen belts**.
Telstar II operated without fault until its VHF transmitter was turned off at orbit #4736.
*Telstar was part of a communications system developed by AT&T beginning in the fall of 1960. The system would include 50 to 120 active satellites in orbit at 7000 miles. The estimated cost of this system was $500 million.
**Van Allen radiation belts are zones of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind.
SOURCE
"Telstar 1, 2," Gunter's Space Page, www.space.skyrocket.de/
Telstar II
Photo from The Goddard Library
NASA Photo
