| 1962 |
Michael Murphy and Richard Price establish the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California to “support alternative methods for exploring human consciousness.”
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| 1968 |
The FCC legalizes the use of SSTV (slow-scan television) for advanced level amateur radio operators. This technology paves the way for the two-way video communications used in the 1980s spacebridges.
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| March 1969 |
Rusty Schweickart and the Apollo 9 mission launch into orbit. Schweickart has a “metaphysical experience” in space which spurs his subsequent interest in global communication and connecting citizens from different countries. |
| 1972 |
Leaders of Esalen travel to the Soviet Union — the first of many exchanges focused on the study of parapsychological phenomena. Newsweek would later dub their dialogue “hot-tub diplomacy.” |
| December 1979 |
The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan leading to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. |
| 1981 |
On sabbatical from his job at Apple, Steve Wozniak hatches the idea for the US Festival. |
| 1982 |
Rusty Schweickart and Esalen representative Jim Hickman meet a high-ranking Soviet officials to discuss the idea of a space-bridge event. |
| September 5, 1982 |
The first US-USSR satellite “tele-link” connects Russian audiences with attendees of the US Festival — but only for a brief few minutes. |
| March 1983 |
Ronald Reagan refers to the U.S.S.R. as “an evil Empire.” |
| May 1983 |
The “spacebridge” program re-launches with the second US Festival, this time featuring an intercontinental jam session and a Q&A forum with live audiences in both countries. |
| March 1985 |
Mikhail Gorbachev is elevated to General Secretary of the Soviet Union, ushering the official era of perestroika (“restructuring”) and glasnost (“transparency” or “openness”). |
| 1985 |
Schweickart’s “Association of Space Explorers” is officially formed, connecting NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts who have completed one space orbit (the organization now boasts 400 members from 37 different countries). |
| December 1985 |
Phil Donahue and Soviet TV personality Vladimir Pozner host their first "Citizens' Summit." It's seen on American TV in early 1986. The New York Times is not impressed. |
| June 1, 1988 |
A third meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev leads to a breakthrough in US/USSR relations with the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). |
| December 14, 1988 |
ABC airs a primetime space-bridge program, hosted by Marlo Thomas and featuring 40 American and Soviet children, along with a dizzying array of guest stars — everyone from Bon Jovi to Lily Tomlin to Kermit the Frog. |
| November 1989 |
The Berlin Wall collapses; Gorbachev moves to loosen much of the centralized political and economic machinery that closely controlled the Soviet states. |
| December 1991 |
The Soviet Union is officially dissolved. |
