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 the mission, battling a series of technology challenges. A failure of the Atlantic satellite in the spring of 1969 threatened to stop the Apollo 11 mission altogether. When a replacement satellite went into a bad orbit, NASA improvised by using undersea cable telephone circuits to bring Apollo’s communications to Flight Control
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The SSPI Satellite Timeline is the first interactive site on the Web to chronicle the rich and diverse history of the commercial satellite industry. Launched in October 2007 – the 50th anniversary of Sputnik – the Timeline is a learning tool for satellite professionals, students, the news media and the innovative companies that make up the industry
