1911 : First around-the-world telegram sent, 66 years before Voyager II launch
On this day in 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends
the first telegram around the world via commercial service. Exactly 66
years later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
sends a different kind of message--a phonograph record containing
information about Earth for extraterrestrial beings--shooting into
space aboard the unmanned spacecraft Voyager II.
The Times decided to send its 1911 telegram in order to determine how
fast a commercial message could be sent around the world by telegraph
cable. The message, reading simply "This message sent around the
world," left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the Times building
in New York at 7 p.m. on August 20. After it traveled more than 28,000
miles, being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco,
the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon
and the Azores--among other locations--the reply was received by the
same operator 16.5 minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by
a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900
by the Commercial Cable Company.
On August 20, 1977, a NASA rocket launched Voyager II, an unmanned
1,820-pound spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the first
of two such crafts to be launched that year on a "Grand Tour" of the
outer planets, organized to coincide with a rare alignment of Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Aboard Voyager II was a 12-inch copper
phonograph record called "Sounds of Earth." Intended as a kind of
introductory time capsule, the record included greetings in 60
languages and scientific information about Earth and the human race,
along with classical, jazz and rock 'n' roll music, nature sounds like
thunder and surf, and recorded messages from President Jimmy Carter
and other world leaders.
The brainchild of astronomer Carl Sagan, the record was sent with
Voyager II and its twin craft, Voyager I--launched just two weeks
later--in the faint hope that it might one day be discovered by
extraterrestrial creatures. The record was sealed in an aluminum
jacket that would keep it intact for 1 billion years, along with
instructions on how to play the record, with a cartridge and needle
provided.
More importantly, the two Voyager crafts were designed to explore the
outer solar system and send information and photographs of the distant
planets to Earth. Over the next 12 years, the mission proved a
smashing success. After both crafts flew by Jupiter and Saturn,
Voyager I went flying off towards the solar system's edge while
Voyager II visited Uranus, Neptune and finally Pluto in 1990 before
sailing off to join its twin in the outer solar system.
Thanks to the Voyager program, NASA scientists gained a wealth of
information about the outer planets, including close-up photographs of
Saturn's seven rings; evidence of active geysers and volcanoes
exploding on some of the four planets' 22 moons; winds of more than
1,500 mph on Neptune; and measurements of the magnetic fields on
Uranus and Neptune. The two crafts are expected to continue sending
data until 2020, or until their plutonium-based power sources run out.
After that, they will continue to sail on through the galaxy for
millions of years to come, barring some unexpected collision.
history.com/tdih.do
1940 : Trotsky assassinated in Mexico
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5275
1968 : Soviets Invade Czechoslovakia
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6995
1975 : Viking 1 launched to Mars
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5276
1982 : U.S. Marines deployed to Lebanon
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5277
#########################################
On this day in 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends
the first telegram around the world via commercial service. Exactly 66
years later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
sends a different kind of message--a phonograph record containing
information about Earth for extraterrestrial beings--shooting into
space aboard the unmanned spacecraft Voyager II.
The Times decided to send its 1911 telegram in order to determine how
fast a commercial message could be sent around the world by telegraph
cable. The message, reading simply "This message sent around the
world," left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the Times building
in New York at 7 p.m. on August 20. After it traveled more than 28,000
miles, being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco,
the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon
and the Azores--among other locations--the reply was received by the
same operator 16.5 minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by
a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900
by the Commercial Cable Company.
On August 20, 1977, a NASA rocket launched Voyager II, an unmanned
1,820-pound spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the first
of two such crafts to be launched that year on a "Grand Tour" of the
outer planets, organized to coincide with a rare alignment of Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Aboard Voyager II was a 12-inch copper
phonograph record called "Sounds of Earth." Intended as a kind of
introductory time capsule, the record included greetings in 60
languages and scientific information about Earth and the human race,
along with classical, jazz and rock 'n' roll music, nature sounds like
thunder and surf, and recorded messages from President Jimmy Carter
and other world leaders.
The brainchild of astronomer Carl Sagan, the record was sent with
Voyager II and its twin craft, Voyager I--launched just two weeks
later--in the faint hope that it might one day be discovered by
extraterrestrial creatures. The record was sealed in an aluminum
jacket that would keep it intact for 1 billion years, along with
instructions on how to play the record, with a cartridge and needle
provided.
More importantly, the two Voyager crafts were designed to explore the
outer solar system and send information and photographs of the distant
planets to Earth. Over the next 12 years, the mission proved a
smashing success. After both crafts flew by Jupiter and Saturn,
Voyager I went flying off towards the solar system's edge while
Voyager II visited Uranus, Neptune and finally Pluto in 1990 before
sailing off to join its twin in the outer solar system.
Thanks to the Voyager program, NASA scientists gained a wealth of
information about the outer planets, including close-up photographs of
Saturn's seven rings; evidence of active geysers and volcanoes
exploding on some of the four planets' 22 moons; winds of more than
1,500 mph on Neptune; and measurements of the magnetic fields on
Uranus and Neptune. The two crafts are expected to continue sending
data until 2020, or until their plutonium-based power sources run out.
After that, they will continue to sail on through the galaxy for
millions of years to come, barring some unexpected collision.
history.com/tdih.do
1940 : Trotsky assassinated in Mexico
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5275
1968 : Soviets Invade Czechoslovakia
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6995
1975 : Viking 1 launched to Mars
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5276
1982 : U.S. Marines deployed to Lebanon
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5277
#########################################
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