May 22 1974
From The Space Library
ATS-F Applications Technology Satellite, scheduled for a 30 May launch, was "a very unusual NASA satellite," Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, said at an ATS-F press briefing in Washington, D.C. It was an advanced satellite with a huge transmitting antenna and "the first step towards .. . a satellite that can broadcast TV directly to your homes."
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Caspar W. Weinberger said that HEW would be using the satellite for career counseling, teacher training, education of medical students, health education, and transmission of medical records to remote areas of Alaska, Appalachia, and the Rocky Mountains. The practical civilian application "justifies fully a continuance of ... both the space program in its inner-space aspects as well as . . . bringing it down to earth and using it in our own daily lives." President Henry Loomis of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting said that, for the "first time, we will have current TV programming available in Alaska." TV videotapes now were sent to Alaska by mail and reaching the most remote 10% of the people cost as much as reaching the remaining 90%. ATS-F would greatly reduce that cost. NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Applications Leonard Jaffe said that the ATS-F was "a major step forward" in the amount of radio frequency power that a satellite could generate to earth and focus very precisely on a small area. Because of this capability, very small, simple receiving stations would be adequate. (Transcript)
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