​​​​​​​"On April 6, 1965, the first Intelsat satellite, Early Bird (also called Intelsat 1), was launched; it was designed and built by Rosen’s team at Hughes Aircraft Company. Early Bird was the first operational commercial satellite providing regular telecommunications and broadcasting services between North America and Europe... Nineteen days after Intelsat 3 F-3 was placed over the Indian Ocean, the landing of the first human on the moon on July 20, 1969, was broadcast live through the global network of Intelsat satellites to over 600 million television viewers."

This proves that satellites are a huge part of what made the Moon Landing as monumental as it was. The satellites are behind the scenes of the Moon Landing and why it was able to be broadcast.​​​​​​​

Buzz Aldrin Climbing out of the Eagle.

“Apollo 11 Aldrin Ausstieg.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia, sco.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo11-Aldrin-Ausstieg.jpg.

Audio clip from the landing of the "Eagle" lunar lander. 

62284main_onesmall2, Houston, Tranquility Base.

This was an audio recording, that was recording at the time of the moon landing at Tranquility Base, in Houston, Texas

 July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind

NASA

The reason that the Moon Landing was able to be broadcast was because of the Intelsat satellites. In the article “Development of Communication satellites” by Virgil Labrador, she explains that,​​​​​​​ 

On July 20, 1969, the very first manned spacecraft arrived on the moon. Apollo 11 after successfully leaving the atmosphere touched down on the moon. This moon landing was broadcasted throughout the world and became the number one most-watched broadcast in history. The largest communicated event ever. None of this would have happened without the satellites.  

"Without television, the Moon landing would have been a merely impressive achievement - an expensive stunt, to the cynical," said Joshua Rothman. "Instead, seen live, unedited, and everywhere, it became a genuine experience of global intimacy."

Without the ability to transmit to hundreds of millions of people, the monumental event of landing on the moon was a never before seen accomplishment. These satellites let them send the same video throughout the world in real-time. This brought great meaning to the moon landing rather than just an article you read in the paper, experiencing it in actuality wouldn’t have been possible without satellites.​​​​​​​

Satellites were essential for sending such an important event throughout, and this event would shape how people viewed the same events forever.