Space (News Items) - (TELSTAR) The concept of "World Television" moved from the pages of science fiction to the realm of reality, when the private communications satelite TELSTAR I was shot into space atop a three stage, $3,000,000 Thor Delta rocket at 3:35 (EST) on Tuesday morning July 10, 1962 from sultry launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. TELSTAR I, a 34 and 1/2 inch spherical orbiting satelite weighed 170 pounds and cost 53 million dollars, an expense paid for by the BELL SYSTEM. The experimental satellite successfully directed microwave transmissions of television pictures and sound from the United States who amplified the signals 10 billion times and relayed them to France. The Telestar sent its first pictures to Europe on its 6th orbit of Earth. The images were of an AT & T antenna in Andover, Maine with the 50 star US flag flapping in the foreground while recorded music played "America the Beautiful" and "The Stars Spangled Banner." The first sound transmission from TELSTAR I was to vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson in Washington, D.C. from the chairman of the board Frederick R. Kappel of AT & T situated in Andover, Maine. Shortly after the first west to east broadcast, the French were the first to send television pictures and sound east to west. The British soon followed. The French originally agreed to a joint broadcast but jumped the gun and beat the rest of Europe to the punch broadcasting Ives Montand singing and Guitarist, Michel Aubert performing. These two became the first satellite celebrities. The British had difficulty picking up the signal with television commentator Richard Dumbleby anxiously awaiting the signal which finally broke through undisturbed hours over deadline while most Britons were already in bed. The French transmission site was Pleumeur Bodou near the French Coast. The English transmission site was Goonhilly Down on the southwest coast of England. (T-MINUS  4) On March 1, 1965 the CBS documentary "T-MINUS 4 years, 9 months & 30 days" examined whether the United States would reach its goal of landing a man on the moon by 1970. The race for space was inspired by President John F. Kennedy after the Russians had started the ball rolling by launching Sputnik 1 (a grapefruit sized satelite) into space on October 4, 1957. EXPLORER 1, the first American satelite was launched on January 31, 1958. (EARLY BIRD INTELSTAT I) On April 6, 1965 the satelite EARLY BIRD INTELSAT I was launched as a joint effort of NASA and Hughes Aircraft. It was the first commercial communications satelite and the first synchronous communications satelite. (OUR WORLD) On June 25, 1967 the National Educational Television (NET) production of OUR WORLD was the first "live" worldwide broadcast transmitted by four satellites to nearly thirty nations on five continents. Appearing on the broadcast were Franco Zeffirelli, Joan Miro, Leonard Berstein, Marc Chagall, Van Cliburn and The Beatles. In 1985 the LIVE AID Rock 'n Roll telethon broadcast a worldwide plea to feed the hungry of Africa. (APOLLO 7) On October 13, 1968 Americans viewed a live transmission from their astronauts in space. The APOLLO 7 crew of Navy Captain Walter "Wally" Marty Schirra, Air Force Major Donn Fulton Eisele, and Marine Corps Major Walt Cunningham held up cards to the cameras mounted onboard their capsule that read: "Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks." The flight was launched from site No. 34 at Florida's Kennedy Space Center and lasted 260 hours and 8 minutes. Earlier in the space program on May 15, 1963, astronaut Gordon Cooper sent the first live television pictures from an American in space, but NASA refused to allow the networks to show them. (APOLLO 11) On July 20, 1969 the most witnessed event in world history occurred when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the lunar surface and broadcast their historic deed back to Earth to over 750 million viewers. Proudly transmitted from the Moon "The eagle has landed." and then "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Planted on the Moon's surface was a small commemorative plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July, 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." (DISCOVERY) On October 29, 1998, former astronaut John Glenn returned to space with the crew of the shuttlecraft Discovery. After 9 days, 135 orbits and 3.6 millions miles, he returned to Earth on November 7, 1998 as the oldest man to travel into space. See also DEATH MISCELLANEOUS -  "Challenger Disaster"