The LANDSAT Program

Sputnik I (Russian) is launched. About the size of a basketball, the first artificial Earth satellite weighs 184 pounds and takes about 98 minutes to complete one orbit.

The United States launches its first satellite, the 30.8-pound Explorer 1.

First Man in Space: Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyyevich Gagarin aboard the Vostok 1 Spacecraft

U.S. Lunar Orbiter 1 enters moon orbit, and takes the first picture of the Earth from the distance of the moon.

Apollo 8 flight to the moon. As the ship travels outward, the crew focuses a portable television camera on Earth and for the first time humanity sees its home from afar, a tiny "blue marble" hanging in the blackness of space.

First Manned Moon Landing: Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. became the first humans to set foot on another world.

American space probe Mariner 9 is the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars. 100% of the Martian surface is mapped over the next year.

Landsat-1 Launched

First U.S. Space Station: Skylab is launched.

NASA launches the first Synchronous Meteorological Satellite, SMS-1.

Landsat-2 Launched

NASA changes ERTS program name to Landsat.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are launched to meet with Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980.

Landsat-1 Decomissioned

Landsat-3 Launched

First Space Shuttle Columbia is launched.

Landsat-2 Decomissioned

Landsat-4 Launched

Landsat-3 Decomissioned

Landsat-5 Launched

Land Remote Sensing Commercialization Act : Facilitated the commercialization of the Federal Government's civilian land remote-sensing satellite system, known as Landsat.

EOSAT takes control of Landsat-4 and Landsat-5.

Hubble Space Telescope is launched. While the telescope is successfully deployed, the primary mirror is seriously flawed resulting in fuzzy images.

Land Remote Sensing Policy Act: Authorized the procurement of Landsat 7 and assured the continued availability of Landsat digital data and images.

Landsat-6 Launch failure

Landsat-4 Set to "Standby"

EOSAT acquired by Space Imaging

X Prize competition announced: 10 Million dollars to the first person or team to safely launch and land a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to a suborbital altitute or 100km and repeat the trip again within two weeks. This contest is designed to inspire and jumpstart civilian and commercial space programs.

Landsat-7 Launched

Landsat-5 MSS powered off

Space Imaging relinquishes Landsat commercial rights and operational control of Landsats 4 and 5 to USGS.

Landsat-4 Decomissioned

Landsat-5 TM ops suspended

Space Imaging aquired by ORBIMAGE. The combined company was rebranded as GEOEYE, the world's largest commercial remote-sensing company.

Landsat-5 Resumed TM ops

Proposed LDCM Launch Date