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And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we begin a series of three programs about the Information Age. Our first program tells about the history of communications.

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Communicating information always has been extremely important. Throughout history, some information has had value beyond measure. The lack of information often costs huge amounts of money and, sometimes, many lives.

A good example is when American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Millions of people around the world watched as he carefully stepped onto the moon on July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine.

People in large cities, small towns and villages saw the event as it was happening. There was no delay in communicating this important information.

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A few years after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, the United States Department of Defense began an experiment. That experiment led to a system that could send huge amounts of information around the world in seconds. Experts called it the beginning of the Information Age. The story of that experiment will be our report next week on EXPLORATIONS.

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This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

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And I'm Barbara Klein. You can read scripts and download audio on our Web site, 51voa.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.