Telstar 1, AT&T's pioneering active communications satellite—the first commercial active relay spacecraft—launched by Thor Delta (D011) from Cape Canaveral into medium Earth orbit. It relayed TV and telephone signals across the Atlantic until radiation from the Starfish Prime nuclear test degraded its electronics.
- Outcome
- Success
- Orbit
- MEO
- Medium Earth orbit
- Payload to orbit
- 77 kg
- Flight
- 11th
- of 12 Thor Delta flights
- Date and time
- 10 July 1962, 08:35 UTC
- Rocket
- Thor Delta
- Builder
- McDonnell Douglas
- Launch site
- Space Launch Complex 17B, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
- Payload
- Communications
- International designator
- 1962-029
- Launches in 1962
- 35th of 81
See it in orbit
Space Atlas shows the satellites and rocket stages from this launch in 3D.
Object pages on Space Atlas: Telstar 1
View satellites in Space Atlas