Satellites: high and low

In 1945 Arthur C. Clarke published an article in Wireless World titled “Extra-Terrestrial Relays”. He described radio stations in an orbit where they would take exactly one day to circle the Earth, so that from the ground they would seem to hang still in the sky.

Engineers got there in stages. On 10 July 1962 Bell Labs' Telstar, financed by AT&T, relayed the first live television pictures across the Atlantic, but its elliptical orbit allowed only about 18 minutes of contact per pass. In 1963 Syncom 2 proved Clarke's idea, and in 1964 Syncom 3 carried television of the Tokyo Olympics to American viewers.