50 yrs later...NASA landed astronauts on the moon and AT&T called them

by Soren Telfer, Director - AT&T Foundry Palo Alto

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy made a bold proclamation: The United States will put a man on the moon within the decade. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 delivered on that promise.

With such an historic task in front of them, NASA knew they were going to need help. So NASA administrator James Webb reached out to AT&T – and we were honored to participate.

Just like that – AT&T had entered the space race, and BELLCOMM, Inc. was born.

BELLCOMM began with about 30 AT&T employees - operating as its own company, matching AT&T’s communications and network specialists with hired space technology experts. A 1972 Bell Telephone Magazine article detailing BELLCOMM’s role says it existed to “look over NASA’s shoulder – point out what they hadn’t thought of and make suggestions for doing the job better.”

AT&T also provided the critical communications platform for NASA and the astronauts throughout the mission. And once Apollo 11 delivered on its promise, AT&T connected President Richard Nixon live via telephone to the moon, a call that traveled an estimated 290,000 miles one way, with millions listening in by way of radio and television.

With the mission complete, BELLCOMM would be dissolved in less than three years. 

But their historic legacy – and all the innovative work done by their peers across AT&T’s 143-year history – still pushes us to explore new frontiers today.

(Excerpt from https://about.att.com/innovationblog/2019/07/nasa_apollo_50th.html)