Happy 51st Birthday today, Telstar!
From Wikipedia: "Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, fax images and provided the first live transatlantic television feed."
TELSTAR 1, one of the first telecommunications satellites.
From Wikipedia: "Belonging to AT&T, the original Telstar was part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National PTT (Post, Telegraph & Telecom Office) to develop experimental satellite communications over the Atlantic Ocean. "
TELSTAR 18, one of the newest 21st Century telecommunications satellites.
From Wikipedia: "Telstar 18 was launched in June 2004 by Sea Launch. The upper stage of the rocket underperformed, but the satellite used its significant stationkeeping fuel margin to achieve its operational geostationary orbit. It has enough on-board fuel remaining to allow it to exceed its specified 13-year design life."
TELSTAR, the ONLY instrumental single to EVER chart at #1 on BOTH the U.S. and the U.K. weekly charts.
From Wikipedia: " "Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental record performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was also a number one hit in the UK; this makes it the only instrumental single to hit #1 on both the US and UK weekly charts. The record was named after the AT&T communications satellite Telstar, which went into orbit in July 1962. The instrumental was released five weeks later on 17 August 1962. "
In 2008, The Ventures reunited and performed their 1963 cover of "Telstar". This live performance featured only electric guitars and drums, whereas the original 1962 recording by The Tornados also included an instrument called "clavioline", an electronic keyboard instrument which was a forerunner to the analog synthesizer.
The Tornados (1962 original) - Telstar
http://youtu.be/YuA-fqKCiAETHE Ventures (1963 cover) - Telstar
http://youtu.be/D6DmtPQv7V8Sintetizador (A cover of a sixties instrumental by the Tornados with video taken from NASA propaganda films of the same era) - Telstar
http://youtu.be/DNblDy86phUTHE Ventures (2008 cover) - Telstar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKyCsmlYwB4
