Symphonie was a joint German-French telecommunications satellite programm. In June 1967, the governments of the French Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany signed an agreement on the definition, development, manufacture, launch and utilization of two experimental direct broadcasting telecommunications satellites as well as on the design and construction of two earth stations. The Symphonie ground segment comprised of a series of earth stations which allowed a large spectrum of utilization such as transmission of television and radio programmes, telephone calls, telexes and data.The Symphonie space segment consisted of two 3-axis-stabilized geostationary satellites, which allowed simultaneous communication between several earth stations in the 4 and 6 GHz frequency ranges. The two satellites were positioned in close co-operation with the French Space Organization CNES and successfully put into operation. During their life time both satellites were controlled jointly by the German-French control centres on a time-shared basis.
