Telespazio Spa is a European spaceflight services company founded in 1961. It is a joint venture owned by Leonardo (67%) and Thales Group (33%) headquartered in Rome. Telespazio provides services that include the design and development of space systems, the management of launch services and in-orbit satellite control, Earth observation services, integrated communications, satellite navigation and localization and scientific programmes. The company manages space infrastructure, such as the Fucino Space Centre - and is involved in programmes including Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, COSMO-SkyMed, SICRAL and Göktürk. Telespazio operates in France with Telespazio France; in Germany with Telespazio VEGA Deutschland, GAF and Spaceopal; in the United Kingdom with Telespazio VEGA UK; in Spain with Telespazio Ibérica; in Romania with Rartel. Telespazio operates in South America through Telespazio Brasil and Telespazio Argentina. In Italy, the company is also present through e-GEOS. History On 18 October 1961, Telespazio was established under the auspices of several Italian organisations, including the National Research Council (CNR) and the Post and Telecommunications Ministry, Italcable and Rai. During the following year, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with Telespazio to test the Telstar and Relay satellites. In 1963, the first signals from the Telstar satellite were received by the new Fucino testing station (Ortucchio, Abruzzo), the first pictures came through a few months later. During 1964, Telespazio helped create history for its role in facilitating the first television broadcasts, directly from Fucino via the Telstar satellite. During the following year, it signed its first agreement with communications satellite service provider Intelsat; in June 1965, commercial telecommunications traffic was inaugurated between North America and Europe. In 1968, Intelsat and Telespazio signed an agreement to provide the first telemetry and remote control services on Intelsat satellites. During 1969, the firm played a role in distributing the live broadcast of the moon landing across Europe. During the 1970s, Telespazio experienced a period of expansion and diversification. During May 1974, it signed a memorandum of understanding with NASA to engage itself in the Landsat program, gathering satellite imagery for Earth Observation purposes according to the signed in May 1974. During that same year, Telespazio became involved in the development of the Sirio programme, thus helping to launch the first Italian telecommunications satellite during 1977. Other major activities of the decade included the in-orbit control of satellites, and the opening of a second space centre in Gera Lario, Lombardia in 1977. In the 1980s,