Oh, say can you see...

November 27, 2007 9:35 AM

The first transatlantic television image was that of a fluttering American flag. My grandfather was the cameraman. Two words: Christmas gift.

For years, my mother has wanted to find a print of that flag, to give to her father. But for a seemingly iconic image, prints have proved strangely elusive. The satellite was Telstar, the image was broadcast on July 10, 1962, and my grandfather worked for Second City at the time.

Anyone know where we can procure this stray bit of American history?

posted by laughinglikemad to technology (10 comments total)

Maybe you can check out this book.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 9:50 AM on November 27, 2007

Smithsonian or getty images might...might have what you're after.
posted by iamabot at 9:54 AM on November 27, 2007

Here is a low quality image, credited to Bell Labs. Perhaps someone at Bell Labs can provide a high quality version.
posted by jrishel at 9:55 AM on November 27, 2007

Got it!?
posted by iamabot at 9:55 AM on November 27, 2007

Go to Getty Images, search for telstar. You'll find what you're looking for, probably.
posted by iamabot at 9:56 AM on November 27, 2007

The site linked mention an issue of the Bell Laboratories Record from April 1963, which may be the source of the image. Maybe you could track down that issue and photocopy it?
posted by ALongDecember at 9:57 AM on November 27, 2007

Well, it turns out my university may have a copy of that issue in the engineering library. I'll go take a look and see if there's a good picture.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:08 AM on November 27, 2007

Here's what I scanned in jpg
Here's a pdf of the page

Let me know if you want higher-res of these, if Getty has them that might be the best choice. That's from the July-August 1962 issue of Bell Labs Record (Vol 40) by the way.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:39 AM on November 27, 2007 [4 favorites]

Sweet! Much obliged. The next step might be to get a print made, which hopefully shouldn't be too much of a hurdle. If in doubt, I can try and check the local engineering library myself. Thanks again.
posted by laughinglikemad at 11:39 AM on November 27, 2007

Getty Images has this photo. I just searched it. (I'm at work as a newspaper right now.)

There are a couple of photos of it, one a little more cropped than the other. One is from the Hutton Archive, and the other is Time/Life photos.
posted by thenormshow at 8:42 PM on November 27, 2007