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July 10, 1962: The launch of Telstar 1, developed by a Bell Laboratories team led by Dr. John Pierce and funded by AT&T, marked the beginning of the commercial satellite […]

November 8 – November 16, 1984: Westar 6 and Palapa B2 became the first satellites to be retrieved from space and repaired by the Space Shuttle Discovery’s mission STS 51-A. […]

April 9, 2003: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, General Motors and Hughes Electronics reached agreement on a deal through which News Corp. would acquire a 34% stake in Hughes (20% owned […]

April 14, 2008 – ICO Global Communications celebrated the successful launch of its new North American geosynchronous satellite, ICO G1. With a total mass of 6,634kg, ICO G1 was the […]

August 19, 1964: A Hughes Aircraft team led by Dr. Harold Rosen launched Syncom 3, the first geostationary satellite. Prior to this success, Syncom 1 malfunctioned on the way to […]

June 15, 1988: PanAmSat successfully launched PAS 1 into orbit, completing one of the most amazing business exploits in satellite history. Founded by Rene Anselmo, PanAmSat applied for FCC permission […]

May 13, 2003: The launch of Hellas-Sat 2 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket put Cyprus’s first satellite into GEO orbit. It was owned by the Hellas Sat Consortium, […]

April 18, 2008 – Vietnam’s first telecommunications satellite, Vinasat-1, was successful placed into orbit by an Ariane rocket. The satellite, which will be operated by Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, […]

August 20, 1964: The Interim Agreement to form the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (later designated as Intelsat) was signed by 15 signatories from 15 countries, with 11 of these entities […]

April 7, 1990: The launch of AsiaSat 1 marked the first time in history a satellite was returned to orbit. Built by Hughes for Western Union and originally named Westar […]

September 27, 2003: Nigeria became the latest nation with its own satellite when Nigeriasat1, a smallsat developed in cooperation with the UK’s Surrey Space Centre, was placed in low Earth […]

July 29, 2008 – The longest-running merger proposal in history came to a close when XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio became one company named Sirius XM Satellite Radio. […]

April 6, 1965: Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird) became the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit. Built by Hughes Aircraft for COMSAT and modeled on the […]

June, 1994: Hughes Electronics and United States Satellite Broadcasting introduced DirecTV, the first US all-digital direct-to-home TV service. It was carried on the high-powered DBS-1 satellite, launched in 1993 with […]

May 17, 2004: Boeing introduced Connexion by Boeing, providing in-flight connectivity for broadband Internet via satellite. Lufthansa was the first airline to contract for the service, for which Boeing installed […]

September 28, 2008 – The Falcon 1 rocket’s fourth launch was the first success for Space Exploration Technology Corp. (SpaceX), and marked the entrance of the first privately funded, liquid-fuelled […]

July 20, 1969: The first landing on the moon by Apollo 11 was broadcast “”live via satellite”” to a global audience over Intelsat satellites. Intelsat also provided communications support for […]

August 3, 1995: With the successful launch of PAS 4 aboard an Ariane 4 launcher, PanAmSat became the first private satellite company to achieve global coverage. The Hughes-built HS-601 satellite […]

August 20, 2004: An investment group including Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts, the Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners purchased PanAmSat from the News Corporation’s DirecTV Group for $2.6 billion in cash. […]

December 1, 2008 – China launched a new remote sensing satellite aboard a Chinese CZ-2D Chang Zheng 2D launch vehicle. The satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] Globecomm Systems Inc. has acquired Carrier to Carrier Telecom BV (C2C) and the assets of Evolution Communication Ltd. from Carrier to Carrier Telecomm Holdings Ltd. (C2C Holdings), […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] Integral Systems has acquired privately held CVG and its subsidiary, Avtec Systems, for $35 million in cash, Integral announced March 5.    CVG-Avtec provides secure, satellite-based communication […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) signed a long-term capacity deal with Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications for capacity on the ABS-2 satellite, ABS announced March 8.    […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] Irdeto will provide Middle East technology provider Selevision  middleware and conditional access solutions for Setevision’s new HD personal video recorders, Irdeto announced March 8. The devices, which […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] International Datacasting Corp. (IDC) continued remaking its executive leadership, naming a new chairman five days after replacing its president and CEO.    Adam Adamou has been named […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] Orbital Sciences Corp. has reached an agreement to acquire the spacecraft development and manufacturing business of General Dynamics subsidiary GD Advanced Information Systems, Orbital Sciences announced March […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] SES Astra has taken full ownership of SES Sirius, acquiring the remaining 10 percent of SES Sirius shares from the Swedish Space Corp., SES Astra announced March […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] GlobeCast signed a deal to bring more Mandarin content to Chinese communities throughout Europe, the company announced March 3.    Globecast signed a video-on-demand (VOD) distribution deal […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] OSN, a DTH operator in the Middle East, is deploying Harmonic’s digital headend solutions to power OSN’s recently launched HD video service, Harmonic announced March 4.    […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-04-10] Viaccess will work with NEC on developing technology for hybrid set-top boxes, Viaccess announced March 3.    The two companies will collaborate to offer incorporate conditional access […]