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Space Cowboys: First Coast News had its head in the stars from NASA's earliest launches

Covering today's historic SpaceX venture with NASA is part of a First Coast News tradition dating back to 1958.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The history of space travel in Florida is a history First Coast News celebrates – and one we share.

On Oct. 11, 1958, the station – then using the call letters WFGA – broadcasted the first televised space launch: the Pioneer 1 lunar probe, from Cape Canaveral.

That event launched the station's own space-age, an exciting and often frenetic period in which then "Channel 12" served as the designated NBC affiliate for Florida launches, as well as the media's pool camera for the first 11 launches.

The coverage meant sending crews of between six to eight photographers and engineers, along with two large trailers that were outfitted specifically for space coverage – one a mobile studio, and one filled with technical equipment. Setup was time-consuming -- requiring the placement of two hundred-plus pounds of "portable" cameras and connecting cables as thick as a bicep – and crews had to be in place days before and after a scheduled launch.

Once in place, their schedule was subject to the whims of nature and NASA. Launch delays were not uncommon, and station employees would find themselves embedded for days or weeks, with little idea when they would return home.

Despite that, the Cape was a coveted duty, with tangible rewards – including the occasional beer with astronauts and autographs from the likes of Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra. Pete Roddy, longtime director with First Coast News and one of the station's space coverage pioneers, recalled the front porch of the WTLV trailer in NASA's "trailer city" became a popular behind-the-scenes hangout.

Credit: WTLV WJXX
Then-"Channel 12" served as the designated NBC affiliate for Florida launches, as well as the media's pool camera for the first 11 NASA launches.

"Everybody in the news department, myself included, had an opportunity to go down and cover one or two or three space shots," said Howard Kelley, who worked at the station from '64 to '85 as a reporter and anchor before he went on to become the station's news director, and then general manager. "Because we had such an involvement, our news team had the opportunity to probably get a little further in a little better station and had access perhaps more than other reporters."

For Ken LeSesne, covering the Cape was a breathtaking experience. LeSesne worked at First Coast News for four decades, including several years as a photographer. Though his first NASA assortment wasn't until 1973, for the launch of Skylab 3, he keenly remembers the thrill of takeoff.

 “The earth shook. It was unbelievable, it was like a massive earthquake," he said. "This huge plume of smoke and fire would come, and that thing would go up in the air and you'd go, 'Oh man, what's about to happen?' But it was so cool."

By 1973, of course, the station had covering space travel down to a science. But there were still surprises. And while WTLV was just one of three broadcast cameras at that launch, it quickly became the only camera. LeSesne said he learned over headset that everyone else's shot had failed.

"CBS lost the rocket, ABC lost the rocket – but we had it," he recalled. "That was an awesome, an awesome experience, to know everybody in the world who was watching television was watching what we were doing."

Kelley said the station's space coverage was a huge commitment, and at times an uncertain one.

"It was exciting, tense – very tense. It was the early stages of manned flight, and not everything went perfect," Kelley said.

There were ordinary glitches, but also darker fears of disaster. So much so that NASA officials demanded a bit of visual trickery from broadcasters. Though the launches ostensibly aired in real time, Kelley said they weren't – quite.

"Not exactly live. Maybe three or four seconds live," Kelley said. "NASA was very, very concerned that should there be a tragedy on the pad or during the launch, they wanted an opportunity to terminate the broadcast before it got out."

So broadcasters had to engineer a solution, one that entailed two machines: one that recorded live video, and another, located on the other side of the room, which played back the live recording with a brief delay.

"And in between there was actually a man with scissors," said Kelley. "And he had the obligation and responsibility of snipping, if he felt this was too much for the American public to see."

Of course, NASA endured its share of tragedy since then – most notably the Columbia and Challenger disasters. First Coast News covered those too. But for station employees, it was both the risk and rewards of covering space flight that has made it such an indelible memory.

"Without a doubt, that is the most thrilling and absolutely one of most memorable things I have about my television career," said LeSesne. "Absolutely without a doubt."

*A version of this story first ran in July 2015

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