Author: Staff Writer

November 11, 1982: NASA’s Space Shuttle flew its first mission to deliver communications satellites into low Earth orbit. Mission STS-5 deployed two communications satellites, both Hughes-built HS-376 spacecraft: SBS-3 owned...

October, 2001: Hughes Electronics accepted a bid from Echostar CEO Charlie Ergen to acquire its DirecTV unit in a $25.8 billion deal that would create a single US DTH operator...

January 15, 2008 – The third Geo-mobile satellite for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company, based in the United Arab Emirates, was successfully launched. The Boeing-built Thuraya satellites enable mobile telephone services,...

December 20, 1961: The UN General Assembly adopts resolution 1721 calling for the application of international law to space exploration and applications, and the free exploration and use of space...

June 28, 1983: Hughes Communications launched Galaxy 1 aboard a Delta rocket. Carrying 24 primary and 6 back-up C-band transponders, Galaxy 1 was the first satellite devoted exclusively to cable...

October 10, 2002: Citing anti-trust concerns, the US Federal Communications Commission rejected the proposed $25.8 billion merger with DirecTV proposed by Echostar CEO Charlie Ergen and approved by the board...

April 7, 2008 – Hughes announced the activation of its first HughesNet consumer broadband Internet subscriber on its SPACEWAY 3 Ka-band satellite, launched in August 2007. SPACEWAY 3 employs high-performance,...

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...