The RCA TIROS (Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite) project was initiated under contract with the US Army Signal Corps.
The program was transferred to the newly formed NASA to be managed by the Goddard Space Center.
RCA Astro designed and built the world’s first weather satellite, TIROS-I, launched April 1, 1960.
This was followed by a large number of civilian weather satellites, and a large number of Defense Department weather satellites.
The first RCA Program manager for TIROS-1 was Edwin Goldberg and Abraham Schnapf managed the program for the next decade.
A list of the civilian Astro weather satellites follows:
RCA ASTRO CIVILIAN WEATHER SATELLITES
Spacecraft |
Date Launched |
Remarks |
| TIROS I |
01-Apr-60 |
Deactivated on 29-Jun-60 |
| TIROS II |
23-Nov-60 |
Deactivated on 04-Dec-61 |
| TIROS III |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| TIROS IV |
08-Feb-62 |
Deactivated on 19-Jul-62 |
| TIROS V |
19-Jun-62 |
Deactivated on 06-May-63 |
| TIROS VI |
18-Sep-62 |
Deactivated on 12-Oct-63 |
| TIROS VII |
19-Jun-63 |
Deactivated on 31-May-68 |
| TIROS VIII |
21-Dec-63 |
Deactivated on 01-Jul-67 |
| TIROS IX |
22-Jan-65 |
Deactivated on 12-Jun-68 |
| TIROS X |
01-Jul-65 |
Deactivated on 01-Jul-67 |
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| ESSA 1 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 2 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 3 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 4 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 5 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 6 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 7 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 8 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
| ESSA 9 |
12-Jul-61 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-62 |
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| ITOS l (M) |
23-Jan-70 |
Deactivated on 18-Jun-71 |
| NOAA 1 (A) |
11-Dec-70 |
Deactivated on 19-Aug-71 |
| ITOS B |
21-Oct-71 |
Launch vehicle failure |
| NOAA 2 (D) |
15-Oct-72 |
Deactivated on 30-Jan-75 |
| ITOS E |
16-Jul-73 |
Launch vehicle failure |
| NOAA 3 (F) |
06-Nov-73 |
Deactivated on 31-Aug-76 |
| NOAA 4 (G) |
15-Nov-74 |
Deactivated on 18-Nov-78 |
| NOAA 5 (H) |
29-Jul-76 |
Deactivated on 16-Jul-79 |
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| TIROS N |
13-Oct-78 |
Deactivated on 27-Feb-81 |
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| NOAA B |
29-May-80 |
Launch vehicle failure |
| NOAA 7 (C) |
23-Jun-81 |
Deactivated Jun-85 |
| NOAA 8 (E) |
28-Mar-83 |
Spacecraft lost on 29-Dec-85 - thermal runaway |
| NOAA 9 (F) |
12-Dec-84 |
On standby operation in 1996 |
| NOAA 10 (G) |
17-Sep-86 |
Various component failures |
| NOAA 11 (H) |
24-Sep-88 |
Various component failures |
| NOAA 12 (D) |
14-May-91 |
Replaced NOAA-10 |
| NOAA 13 (I) |
09-Aug-93 |
On-orbit failure 21-Aug-93 - power subsystem |
| NOAA 14 |
30-Dec-95 |
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