About our Heritage
From Santa Cruz to Tranquility Base: The Lightweight Headset Takes Flight
Plantronics was an idea first dreamt of by two people who thought of doing things in a new way.
It began as a discussion between two pilots. And years later, it ended up on the moon. And through it, the words that would come to symbolise one of humanity's highest achievements would be spoken. The idea was a lightweight headset. And the words were spoken by Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps on the moon.
What set Plantronics founders Keith Larkin and Courtney Graham's idea on the path from Santa Cruz, California, to the Sea of Tranquility paved the way for over 40 years of innovation. In 1961, Larkin happened to see a pair of radio spectacles that sparked his interest. Concurrently, United Airlines was seeking a replacement for the hand-held microphone used by pilots in the cockpits of their new DC-8 jets. Larkin quickly took action and began pencilling designs of a new lightweight headset for which Larkin was later granted a US patent.
While finalising the creation of their new headset, the two established Plantronics, Inc. on 18 May 1961- dedicated to the design, development and manufacture of specialised aircraft electronics. Their first headset, the MS50, was purchased by United Airlines and set the standard for lightweight communications in the aviation industry.
A New Opportunity
Before the first Plantronics headset reached the aviation market, an accident in the fledgling NASA space programme in 1962 created the opportunity that would take their headset design higher than anyone imagined. During the second manned Mercury mission, "Gus" Grissom had to scramble out of his capsule when the hatch detonated prematurely, sinking the capsule in 15,000 feet of water and taking Grissom's communications system with it.
NASA realised that they needed an astronaut-worn lightweight emergency communications system, and contacted ITT Labs for a solution. The new system included the MS50 headset, which caught the eye of astronaut Walter "Wally" Schirra, who was scheduled to fly the next Mercury mission. Schirra contacted Plantronics and asked if the MS50 headset could be adapted to fit inside his helmet - not just as the back-up it was intended to be. And the rest is history.
So on 3 October 1962, Schirra wore the first Plantronics headset in outer space as he travelled six orbits around the Earth. Back at Plantronics, a new division was created to manufacture headsets specifically for the space programme - SPENCOM: SPace ENvironmental COMmunications. Shortly thereafter, Plantronics became one of the few independent manufacturers identified by name as a NASA supplier.
Plantronics moved from its humble beginnings to become a leading aviation headset supplier and the communications system provider for NASA space flights. It was the dawn of the lightweight headset age - and the precursor of many innovations to come.
The Second Stage Boost
Soon, it became necessary for Plantronics to find new markets to pioneer. While it was gratifying to see their products play such an integral role in the space race, there just weren't enough pilots and astronauts to sustain their business.
But in 1964, opportunities emerged - opportunities that would, in many ways, take them further than the moon. As the MS50 gained popularity in the aviation industry, others began to notice. The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) solicited proposals for a lightweight headset design with improved sound for air traffic control - a bid which Plantronics won to become the sole provider of headsets to all FAA air traffic controllers, a privilege Plantronics still holds today.
A few months later, Plantronics achieved a milestone that would help ensure its survival, crossing over from mission-critical to business-critical - first Pacific Bell and then Western Electric contracted with Plantronics to supply their new lightweight headsets to telephone operators across the U.S.
As the popularity of these headsets grew in the business world, Plantronics continued to create more robust systems to meet the increasingly ambitious goals of the U.S. space programme. The astronauts of all 10 manned Gemini missions relied on Plantronics headsets throughout their pioneering flights. And Plantronics was moving to develop several types of headsets for subsequent missions.
But the biggest distinction for Plantronics headsets was yet to come.
Clear from the Moon
Of course, all of these initial forays into space were merely appetisers for NASA's intended main course: the moon. After Apollo missions 8 and 10 successfully achieved lunar orbit, NASA was ready to aim for the moment that came to define a century.
20 July 1969. Families gathered around their televisions to watch as Neil Armstrong, stepping from the Lunar Module Eagle 1, uttered those famous words through his Plantronics headset - words that are forever imprinted upon the world's collective consciousness: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
A few years later, Plantronics headsets played a key role in another dramatic chapter in NASA's history. During the Apollo 13 mission, Plantronics headsets would convey another famous statement: "Houston, we have a problem…." Years later, Plantronics headsets would again convey these words in director Ron Howard's movie "Apollo 13."
Expanding Opportunities
Today, the idea that travelled to the moon is still powered and defined by Plantronics' unending quest for innovation. It's what first turned the idea into reality. And it's what has laid the foundation for everything since. From mission critical to business critical to consumer must-have, all of the quality and experience of the past 40 years have set the stage for innovations to come.
Now, Plantronics finds itself poised on the edge of a new era of wireless freedom - an era where the only boundaries are the willingness to push beyond what is expected and the ability to do what has never been thought of before. Boundaries that Plantronics has crossed again and again and again.
