First TV picture from space / Wangari Maathai born - April 1

On this day in 1960, the first TV picture from space was taken by the TIROS-1 weather satellite. / On this day in 1940, environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai was born in Kenya.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, Eve's here. Today's episode contains not just one,
but two nuggets of history. Consider it a double feature.
Enjoy the show. Welcome to this Day in History class,
where we bring you a new tipbit from history every day.

(00:26):
The day was April one, nineteen sixty. From Cape Canaveral, Florida,
NASA and its partners launched the weather satellite TIROS one
short for Television Infrared Observation Satellite at six forty in
the morning Eastern Standard time. That day, TYROS one sent
back the first ever television picture from space. In nineteen sixty,

(00:50):
the space race was gaining momentum as the United States
and the Soviet Union competent for dominance in space flight advancement.
The nations were launching satellites and lunar robes and sending
humans into space. The Tyro's program began in this climate.
At the time, it still was not clear how effective
satellite observations were, so scientists were test with developing a

(01:12):
meteorological satellite information system that could reliably forecast weather and
help people make important weather based decisions like disaster warnings.
TYROS one, the satellite that kicked off the Tyro's program
was the first satellite launched for remote sensing of Earth.
It's launch marked the first time Earth scientists could continuously

(01:35):
view the whole planet and observe weather conditions from space.
TYROS one was designed to test the feasibility of using
television pictures to monitor Earth's cloud cover and weather patterns
from satellites. It had two TV cameras to photograph cloud cover,
one with a wide angle view and the other with
a narrow angle view. The cameras were slow scan devices

(01:58):
that took a snapshot once re ten seconds. Once the
pictures were taken, they were sent back to a ground
receiving station or stored in a tape recorder on board
for playback later. Depending on the location of the satellite,
TYROS one wasn't always pointed at Earth, and it could
only function in daylight. There were two Commands and Data

(02:19):
Acquisition or c d A stations for TYROS one, one
at the Army Signal Corps Lab in Bell mart New Jersey,
and the other at the U. S. Air Force facility
at Kinda Point, Hawaii. In addition to these, and engineering
and backup station was at the r c A plant
in Heightstown, New Jersey, where Tyrose was built. Once the

(02:41):
pictures were received at the c d A station. They
were recorded on thirty five millimeter film, so prints in
large projections could be made. Using the prints and projections,
a hand drawn cloud analysis called the NEF analysis was made,
and then a fact fimily was sent to the US
whether be World National Meteorological Center near Washington, d C.

(03:05):
The launch of Tyrose one was scheduled for five AM,
but it was an hour late, according to NASA administrator T.
Keith Glennon. Glennon said in the book The Birth of
NASA The Diary of T. Keith Glennon, it was a
picture taken obliquely looking westward from New Jersey towards the
center of the country, and revealed a psychlonic disturbance that

(03:27):
was actually in being at that time. Naturally, everybody was excited.
The first pictures taken were presented to US President Dwight D. Eisenhower,
who scolded Glennon for getting the first photo on April
Fool's Day. Tyros one died from an electrical failure in
mid June nineteen sixty after working for only seventy eight days,

(03:50):
but during its time in operation, it transmitted nineteen thousand
three dred and eighty nine pictures that were used in
weather operations, and the tie Rose project continued. The initial
Tyro series ran until nineteen sixty seven, when Tyros TAN
was deactivated. After that, NASA and the National Oceanic and

(04:11):
Atmospheric Administration launched a next generation satellite series with technological
improvements like higher resolution imaging. Now, weather satellites and meteorological
observation are far more sophisticated. I'm each step Coote, and
hopefully you know a little more about history today than

(04:32):
you did yesterday. Here's a note on that first TV
picture from space. So there's a picture that goes around
that's commonly labeled as the first picture, but it's not
actually the first picture. It's the one that was taken
on the afternoon of April two. That April second picture
showed a fuzzy, black and white image of Maine in

(04:53):
Canada's maritime provinces. It's not quite clear why this misidentification happened,
but it could be because it was selected as the
best photo for public relations and then misinterpreted by the media.
If you haven't gotten your fill of history after listening
to today's episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram

(05:14):
and Facebook at t d i h C Podcast. Thank
you again for listening, and we'll see you tomorrow. Hey, y'all,
it's Eves and welcome to another episode of This Day

(05:37):
in History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit
of history every day. The day was April one, nine
environmental and political activists when Gary Mattai was born. Mattai

(05:58):
was the first African woman to in the Nobel Prize.
Mattai was born in neary Kenya and raised in an
area that was known as the White Highlands. She was
the daughter of Kicku subsistence farmers, and she had five siblings.
Her older brother convinced her parents that she should go
to school rather than focus on work around the house,

(06:20):
so she went to the Ae Primary School, St. Cecilia's
Intermediate School, then Laredo Limuru Girls School. After finishing school
there and getting a scholarship, she went to the US
to study at Mount Saint Scholastica College in Kansas. At
the time, the Kennedy administration was funding East Africans to

(06:42):
study at American colleges as colonialism in East Africa was
ending and many Kenyans went to study at US universities.
Mattai got her bachelor's degree in biology in nineteen sixty four,
then her master's from the University of Pittsburgh. By the
time she returned to Kenya, the country had gained its

(07:02):
independence from the British Empire and become an independent republic.
Matti was recruited to be a research assistant in zoology
at the University of Nairobi, but she was denied the
position because of what she believed to be gender discrimination.
Soon though, the university hired her as a research associate
in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy. In nineteen see, she

(07:27):
got her doctorate from the University of Nairobi. She worked
her way up at the institution, becoming a senior lecturer,
then chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, then an
assistant professor. The research she took on made her more
aware of the environmental issues of Kenya, especially those in
rural areas. Mattia married a Nairobi businessman in nineteen sixty nine,

(07:52):
and the couple eventually had three kids together. They ended
up getting a divorce in the nineteen eighties, but his
involvement in politics and advocacy for finding jobs for unemployed
people led her to link her work and interest to
employment opportunities. But Tai started a business called environl Care,

(08:12):
which involved people planting trees as a way to help
the environment and create jobs. The business did not last,
but it did help lead her to a new tree
planting project called Save the Land Harambai, which turned into
the Green Belt Movement. The Green Belt Movement was focused
on tree planting for poverty reduction and environmental conservation. Throughout

(08:35):
her life, Mattai remained dedicated to environmental causes. Deforestation was
causing soil runoff and water pollution. It was increasing poverty,
reducing the amount of vegetation livestock had to eat, and
causing children to have to eat more processed foods. Mattai
aimed to combat these effects through the Green Belt Movement,

(08:56):
which planted millions of trees, gave small pay it's to
people who planted and preserved trees, and provided services like
workshops on family planning and nutrition. The organization spread to
countries across the African continent and soon extended its influence
to other nations around the world. Mattai was also active

(09:18):
in politics In nineteen eighty nine, she protested against the
construction of an enormous office tower in Nairobi, leading investors
to withdraw their support from the project. She opposed the
one party state and the leadership of Kenyan President Daniel
arap Moi. Her opposition and outspokenness did earn her the

(09:38):
ire of Moe and other government officials who disliked the
green belt movements pro democracy positions. Still, Mattai was elected
to parliament in Kenya in two thousand and two and
was appointed Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources in Wildlife.
In two thousand and four, Mattai got the Nobel Peace
Prize for her quote CAD attribution to sustainable development, democracy

(10:02):
and peace. She died from complications of ovarian cancer in
two thousand eleven. I'm Eve Jeff Cote and hopefully you
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
And if you want to send us a note on
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Instagram at t d I h C podcast. You can

(10:24):
also send us an email at this day at iHeart
media dot com. Thanks again for listening to the show
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