On 18 October 1961, Telespazio was established under the auspices of several Italian organisations, including the National Research Council (CNR) and the Post and Telecommunications Ministry, Italcable and Rai.

[5] During 1964, Telespazio helped create history for its role in facilitating the first television broadcasts, directly from Fucino via the Telstar satellite.

[5] During the following year, it signed its first agreement with communications satellite service provider Intelsat; in June 1965, commercial telecommunications traffic was inaugurated between North America and Europe.

Other major activities of the decade included the in-orbit control of satellites, and the opening of a second space centre in Gera Lario, Lombardia in 1977.

[5] On 30 May 1991, Telespazio launched the ARGO project, the first closed network equipped with small fixed antennas for emergency communications, intended for Italian civil protection.

[5] During December 2002, the firm became a part of the Italian aerospace conglomerate Finmeccanica; the acquisition had involved a lengthy period of negotiation with Telespazio's former parent company, Telecom Italia.

[12][13] Prior to approving the change, the EC had performed an in-depth investigation due to concerns that the transfer may have had a detrimental effect on downstream satellite and subsystem competition.

[17] During 2017, Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio formed a partnership with Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries to accelerate plans for a constellation of 60 Earth observation satellites.