Earth Observing Spacecraft and Satellites

APOLLO 7 and 9 (1968-1969)
Apollo 7 and 9 were Earth-orbiting satellites. Apollo 7 was the first manned Apollo flight and conducted two photographic sessions. Apollo 9 was the first manned Apollo flight to test the complete Apollo spacecraft including the Landing Module (LM).

SKYLAB 2,3 and 4 (1973-1979)
Skylab was America's first Space Station, designed to evaluate long-term effects of spaceflight on people and equipment. Earth photography was one of the many experiments conducted on Skylab. Skylab photography was obtained by two camera systems that were mounted on the spacecraft: a Multispectral camera, which used six different film/filter combinations and an Earth terrain camera. These cameras offered the first opportunity to obtain high-resolution Earth photography from space. A Hasselblad hand-held camera was also used to obtain high-quality photography.

LANDSAT (1972-present)
Landsat, a remote sensing Earth Resources Technology satellite, has been acquiring repetitive coverage of the Earth since 1972 when Landsat 1 was launched. Since then, four others have been in operation. Landsat 1, 2, and 3 fly in a circular orbit 913 km above the Earth's surface and circle the Earth every 103 minutes, or about 14 times a day. Landsat 4 and 5 fly about 705 km above the Earth and circle every 98 minutes. Each scene covers an area 185 km on a side. Landsat 1, 2 and 3 carried two remote sensor systems: a Return Beam Vidicon (RBV) or television system and a Multispectral Scanner (MSS). Landsats 4 and 5 carried the MSS sensor and an advanced MSS called a Thematic Mapper which records in seven spectral bands and obtains high resolution images (30m/pixel) of selected areas. The CEPS collection of Landsat images consists mostly of Egypt and China, dating back to the early 1970s.

Space Shuttle [Space Transportation System(STS)] (1981-present)
The Space Shuttle is a reusable Earth Orbiting vehicle. Earth Observations are conducted on every mission. The astronauts photograph selected sites using a hand-held Hasselblad camera. They obtained high-quality color photos of terrain features and cloud systems for geological, geographical and meteorological purposes. On four Shuttle missions, an Imaging Radar System was flown. Imaging Radar Systems have the capability of being used at any time day or night, as well as in adverse weather conditions since their signals can penetrate clouds. They observe phenomena different from those seen by other Earth-looking satellites. See the Space Shuttle Photograph Repository.

Galileo (1989-present)
The Galileo spacecraft was designed to study Jupiter's atmosphere, satellites and surrounding magnetosphere. It began its probe in December 1995. Because it requires a Venus-Earth-Earth gravity assist, the spacecraft was able to make useful scientific observations of these planets and the Earth's Moon and exercise its scientific capabilities on its long journey to Jupiter. Galileo also flew close to the asteroid belt providing close-up observations of asteroids Gaspra and Ida. More about Galileo.

RPIF Earth
RPIF page

Updated: 02/24/2000