Over twenty years ago, I was fortunate to witness the launch of Telstar 401 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. My mother's career allowed our family to experience some truly unique events.
My mother was a leader of the AT&T SKYNET Satellite Services Group in 1993. Her team included Marketing and Product Managers, Operations and Engineering for the fleet of Telstar 3 series satellites. These satellites were used primarily for TV Broadcast. The 400 Series were designed by AT&T Laboratories to replace the aging fleet.
On September 28, 1993, AT&T made their official announcement from the Hawley, PA Control Center. For its' time, Telstar 401 was touted as the industry's most advanced video and data service provider, beaming ABC, FOX and PBS across the US in the mid 90's. Beyond its' television broadcasting abilities, Telstar offered services for universities to broadcast their college level courses. This was ground breaking then; common place now.