High and Mighty
By ice rivers
- 75 reads
We knew for a long time where God was. He art in heaven. We knew where heaven was. Heaven was up there. Kings and Queens and rulers of all kind were closers to up there then anybody else. They were high....we called them "higness."
We always wanted to get up there. Finally Kennedy said; "we're going to the moon" and we started launching things into space. First came Sputnik which scared the devil out of Amsrican descendants of Adam and Eve. Yuri Gagarin didn't ease the tension but then the right stuff took over with Shephard and Glenn and Gus and the guys.
Along the way, American descendants of Adam and Eve along with their British and French relatives topped Spunik with Telstar. Telstar enabled us to watch more and better teevee as images could now be transmitted. Americans could hear Yves Montand sing and Europeans could watch Kennedy make speeches. Europe got the better of that deal until eventually satelites started transmitting sports. Not everybody was interested in yacht racing but the World Cup energized soccer viewing in America.
Telstar 1 operated for a relatively short period compared to modern satellites. It was active from its launch on July 10, 1962, until February 21, 1963. During this time, Telstar facilitated several live television broadcasts and played a crucial role in demonstrating the feasibility of satellite communication for transmitting various types of data across long distances. Despite its limited operational lifespan, Telstar 1 laid the foundation for subsequent developments in satellite communication technology.
Telstar 2 brought us the 1964 Olympics.
We kept getting higher and higher. We watched 2001 over and over again and made it to the moon under the presidency of Nixon for God's sake. We watched the moon landing and the small step/giant leap on our teevees.
We kept launching more and more versions of Telstar each giving better signals then the original although none of the successors had a number one instrumental named after it.
The first boxing match to be transmitted by satellite was the "Fight of the Century" between Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) and Joe Frazier. This historic bout took place on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The satellite used for this broadcast was Intelsat 1 (also known as Early Bird), which was part of the Intelsat system. The use of satellite technology allowed the fight to be broadcast live to various locations around the world. The Ali vs. Frazier fight was a highly anticipated and significant event in the world of boxing, and the satellite transmission marked a milestone in the global distribution of live sports events.
And one of the most complicated and memorable nights in my bachelorhood.
A night without teevee.
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Enjoyable read Ice; the
Enjoyable read Ice; the progress of satelite transmissions and the changing times it captured.
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