[LINK] Telstar, 50 this week

grove at zeta.org.au grove at zeta.org.au
Wed Jul 11 15:28:40 AEST 2012


On Wed, 11 Jul 2012, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:

> Telstar, first telecom satellite, launched 50 years ago
>
> By: Martyn Williams (IDG News Service) 10th July, 2012
> http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/430140/telstar_first_telecom_satellite_la
> unched_50_years_ago/
>
>
> "Intended as an experiment at the time, Telstar paved the way for the
> more than 300 telecom satellites orbiting the Earth today."
>
> Fifty years ago this week a Delta rocket roared into space carrying a
> payload that sparked a revolution in the way the world communicates. On
> board the rocket, launched on July 10, was Telstar, the first
> telecommunications satellite.

When I was seven, I won an award for a presentation I did regarding Telstar. 
I even played a record of the Joe Meek theme song at the end!
For the rest of my time in primary school, I was tagged as a "brain".....

I am slowly getting a little collection of space memorabilia together. 
I am specifically interested in anything with an obvious Australian connection.

My centrepiece (well I only have a couple of bits) is a model of WRESAT, 
which flew out of Woomera in the late '60's.   I found it on eBay, and must 
have been the only person who knew what it was because it only cost me $90.

This item is a "desk set" and appears to be hand made, possibly (probably) from the 
same high quality aluminium as the original.   It is on a post that sits on a base 
with the satellite optimistically soaring above.   In the base is a brass "ink well".
I suspect the item was turned in the same workshop by the same engineers who 
worked on the original.   Inside the ink well is a lapel pin, with the WRESAT logo 
on it.

I suspect this item was made to celebrate the event, that it was either for someone 
important who didn't receive it or from someone involved in the project who didn't 
care for it anymore. I would love to know more about it.

I am very lucky to possess such an obscure but important piece
of Australian Space History and it was my Telstar project all those years ago that 
piqued my interest.....


rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia
grove at zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
    "The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum." - Finagle's Law



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