Inside a Soviet Satellite TV Station

The Orbita dish perched atop a television station in Surgut. The first images picked up by this facility were coverage of the 1967 Workers' Day celebration.



Satellite television came to the Soviet Union in 1967, with the installation of the Orbita series satellite receivers throughout Siberia and the Far East. The giant satellite dishes were tuned into the Soviets' Molniya communications satellites. One of these receivers, in the Ural mountains, remains in prime condition to this day.



See our previous Photo Gallery:

Moscow's Rostelecom Figure Skating Grand Prix: The Highlights

Photographs of the first crew to operate the station.

The central room of the satellite station, located below the large dish on the roof.

One of the station's computer stations, where the satellite television signal would be received and distributed to other cities on a local cable network.

An old Soviet telephone.

A control station for the Orbita satellite dish.

Vintage lighting.

Gas masks and related gear for the television operators, just in case.

A modern satellite dish stands before the old Orbita dish.