On April 1, 1960, the U.S. launched its first weather satellite into orbit. The satellite was named TIROS-1, which is short for Television Infrared Observation Satellite.
TIROS-1 launched on a Thor-Able rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida and entered a polar orbit, which enabled it to see the entire globe. It watched the Earth from space for 78 days before an electrical power failure cut its mission short.
The satellite was equipped with TV cameras and video recorders that transmitted images of Earth’s cloud coverage directly to ground stations.
This mission enabled the first accurate weather forecasts based on data and images from space. It also showed scientists that satellites could be useful tools for studying the Earth. The design was pretty much a bigger version of the capsules NASA used for Project Mercury. Each capsule was shaped like a bell and measured about 19 feet long and 10 feet wide.
Over the course of 10 missions, 16 astronauts flew to space in these cramped capsules.
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