The engineers successfully sent a signal to Telstar, which amplified it 10 billion times and relayed it back to Andover. Eugene F. O'Neill, Telstar Project Director and IEEE Fellow, oversaw the success of this project at Andover. He noted that one of the challenges was pointing an extremely sharp beam very accurately at the satellite. At 7:17 p.m. he announced "We've acquired Telstar!" At 7:31 p.m. an American flag at Andover appeared on the television screen. Then at 7:47 p.m. engineers at Andover received word that the French site, Pleumeur-Bodou, had received the television picture. The Large radome was torn down and land returned to nature in the mid-1980s. MCI purchased the Andover Earth station in 1987, MCI was later purchased by Verizon including the Andover Earth station in 2006 and managed under the Verizon Business name. The site still operates to this day as part of Verizon's Satellite Solution group supporting satellite operations for Verizon. References AIEE Conference Paper, "Engineering considerations in the Selection of Andover, Maine, as the Location for the Bell Systems Satellite Ground Station", February 1962. External links 'Maine and the Space Age' slideshow about Andover from Maine Memory Network Pictures of current Andover Earth Station site Centre de télécommunication par satellite de Pleumeur-Bodou (in French) MCI purchases Andover Earth station Verizon purchases MCI Radome and 40th Anniversary info Buildings and structures in Oxford County, Maine Communications in Maine Domes Earth stations in the United States History of Maine 1961 establishments in Maine