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This Week in Tech History: Apollo 7 Takes Flight

Apollo 7 takes flight, cellular phone service begins and a popular web browser is launched… It all happened This Week in Tech History.

This week in 1968 – The U.S. launched Apollo 7. Described by commander Walter M. Schirra, Jr. as a “magnificent flying machine,” “Apollo 7” travelled some 4.5 million miles in orbit around the Earth to become the first manned flight in NASA’s lunar-landing program. The mission also featured the first live TV transmission from a spacecraft in orbit.

1983 – Ameritech Mobile Communications launched the first US cellular network in Chicago. In the late 90s, Ameritech was acquired by SBC Communications, which subsequently acquired AT&T, forming the present-day conglomerate, AT&T Inc. Parent to many companies, such as AT&T Wireless, Warner Media, DirecTV and others.

1984 – Space-shuttle Challenger astronaut Dr. Kathy Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform an EVA (extra-vehicular activity), or walk in space.

1994 – Netscape Communications Corporation announced that it was offering its new Netscape Navigator free to users via the Internet. The Internet browser, developed by the six-month-old Silicon Valley company led by Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark and NCSA Mosaic creator Marc Andreessen, was available for free downloading by “individual, academic and research users.”

Written by Chris Graveline

Chris has covered consumer technology for over 20 years. He is the host of This Week in Tech History as well as a regular co-host on "Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline" and our Technical Director.

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