I'm not sure it's possible to explain to anyone under 30 just how different the world was before Telstar.

These days we take for granted that a television image uplinked to a satellite from anywhere in the world can be seen instantaneously almost anywhere else in the world. We also take for granted that as long as we know the number, we can call from our own phone and reach phones anywhere else in the world.

[caption id="attachment_1357" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Telstar"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1357" title="images" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="254" /></a>[/caption]

But even though there had been a transatlantic telegraph cable since the middle of the 19th century, telephone calls across the Atlantic had to be completed by radio signal until the first cable was completed in 1956. Even then, calling Europe was a huge deal.

It wasn't that Telstar changed all that in 1962, but it was the beginning. Nearly 50 years later, folks might not realize that Telstar was the first joint private-government venture in the space program, and Telstar itself was the first commercial satellite.

Maybe the biggest effect it had for average folks was that it made coast-to-coast television broadcasts possible, and eventually worldwide broadcasts were feasible as well.

The world became a much smaller place, especially when you figure that the most popular way to travel to Europe in 1962 was still by sea and took seven days from New York to Southhampton. If you remember the old "I Love Lucy" show, you may recall that when the Ricardos went to Europe, they traveled by ocean liner. When they returned, it was by place.

The world was changing.

The original Telstar lasted less than a year. Damage from U.S. nuclear testing in outer space fried some of its circuits, and Telstar 2 was sent up to replace it in 1963.

One interesting fact is that both of the original Telstars are still orbiting the Earth.

<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-1358" title="Telstar" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="256" /></a>Why was Telstar on my mind? When I was 12, the first year I really listened to rock 'n' roll radio, there were two wonderful instrumentals that were popular. One of them -- Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore" -- still shows up in movies from time to time. The other one isn't heard all that often anymore, but it was a milestone of sorts.

"Telstar," by the Tornadoes, was the first song by a British band ever to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.

Before the Beatles, before the Stones, before all the great solo artists, there was Telstar.

Long may it fly.

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