In the summer of 1962 Telstar-1 helped ignite the white heat of technology that burned throughout the rest of the decade. Fifty years on, how well deserved is its reputation as a global comms game-changer? A MEDIA STAR in its own right, the first Telstar had something special. Half a century ago, on 10 July 1962, that 88cm-diameter sphere relayed the first instantaneous television and telephone signals across the Atlantic - and promptly became an icon. Millions of Britons viewed its shaky first pictures. "The invisible focus of a million eyes" became the Queen's description in her next Christmas Day address. For the public, the Telstar experiment showed that Space could be useful, single-handedly kick-starting the multi-billion pound satellite telecommunications industry - up to a point, at least, for the historical truth is somewhat more nuanced, for arguably Telstar-1 was both a great leap forward - and a technological cul-de-sac.
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