Author: Staff Writer

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...