The 1970s

A Decade of Expansion

20 August 1974

Intelsat celebrates its 10th Anniversary. Membership has gone from the original 11 countries to 86. Intelsat now carries 5,000 international telephone circuits and has capacity of 20,000 voice circuits and five television channels of available in-orbit capacity.

24 December 1974

The Direct Communications Link, or "Hot Line," is activated connecting the White House and the Kremlin via the Intelsat system.

15 July 1975

Television coverage of the joint APOLLO/SOYUZ mission, the first meeting in space of American and Russian astronauts, is broadcast using the Intelsat system, providing television access for the nine-day space adventure to more than one billion people - one quarter of the world's population at that time.

26 June 1978

About one billion people in 42 countries watch television coverage provided by Intelsat of the World Cup men's football matches in Argentina. Total viewers set a new high for television coverage, surpassing the record set during the 1976 Olympics.

July 1978

Intelsat participates in the earliest demonstration of the Internet, using the Intelsat IV-A satellite between Etam, West Virginia, Goonhilly Downs in the United Kingdom and Tanum, Sweden, with land-line connections between Norsas in Norway and University College in London.