A 53-meter terrestrial antenna manufactured by AT&T Corporation , located in Andover , Maine , was used for the transmissions between the U.S. and Europe . Built in 1961 , and used by Telstar 1 , it was later used by Relay 1 . Telstar 1 operated normally from launch until November 1962 when the radiation from the Starfish Prime detonation affected the command channel , which began to behave erratically . The satellite was continuously switched on to work around this problem . On November 23 , 1962 , the command channel stopped responding . On December 20 , the satellite was successfully reactivated , and intermittent data were obtained until February 21 , 1963 , when the transmitter failed . The energy used by it was produced by 3,600 solar cells . Thirteen days after the launch , the first live broadcast of a television show between the United States and Europe took place
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
Telstar 1