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    ESA > About Us > Welcome to ESA > ESA history

    50 years of Earth Observation

    Russia U.S. Europe Rest of the world
    1957-1961
      Aug. 1959 – Explorer 6 takes first pictures of the Earth.

    Apr. 1960 – Tiros 1, 1st weather satellite.

    Aug. 1960 – Discoverer 14, 1st recovery of Earth pictures on film.

       
    1962-1966
    Apr. 1962 – Kosmos 4, 1st Soviet (military) remote sensing satellite. Aug. 1964 – Nimbus 1, 1st weather research satellite.

    Nov. 1965 – GEOS-A, 1st geodesy satellite.

    Feb. 1966 – ESSA-1, 1st operational weather satellite.

    Feb. 1966 - Diapason, 1st French geodesy satellite.  
    1967-1971
    Feb. 1967 – Kosmos 144, 1st Soviet weather satellite.    

     

    1972-1976
    Sep. 1975 - Kosmos 771, 1st Soviet Earth ressources satellite.

    Jul. 1972 – Landsat 1, 1st civilian Earth observation satellite.

    May 1974 – SMS-1, 1st geostationary weather satellite.

    Feb. 1975 – Starlette, French laser retroreflector satellite.

     

     
    1977-1981
      Jun. 1978 – Seasat, 1st oceanography satellite.

    Feb. 1979 – SAGE, 1st satellite dedicated to atmospheric pollution.
    Nov. 1977 – Meteosat 1, Europe's 1st geostationary weather satellite.

     

    Jul. 1977 – GMS-1, Japan's 1st geostationary weather satellite.

    Jun. 1979 – Bhaskara 1, India's 1st remote sensing satellite.

    1982-1986
        Jul. 1982 – Spot Image, 1st space imaging company.

    Feb. 1986 – Spot 1, 1st French remote sensing satellite.

    Apr. 1982 – Insat 1A, India's 1st geostationary weather satellite.
    1987-1991
    Jul. 1987 – Kosmos 1870, 1st Soviet radar remote sensing satellite.

     

    Sep. 1991 – UARS, 1st large satellite dedicated to atmospheric studies. Jul. 1991 – ERS-1, ESA’s 1st radar remote sensing satellite. Feb. 1987 – MOS-1a, Japan's 1st Earth observation satellite.

    Sep. 1988 – Ofeq 1, Israel’s 1st remote sensing satellite.

    Sep. 1988 – Feng Yun 1A, China's 1st weather satellite.

    1992-1996
    Oct. 1994 – Elektro 1, 1st Russian geostationary weather satellite.

    Aug. 1995 – Sich 1, Ukraine's 1st oceanography satellite.

    Jul. 1996 – TOMS-EP, 1st satellite dedicated to ozone monitoring. Aug. 1992 – Topex-Poseidon, joint U.S.-French oceanography satellite.

     

    Nov. 1995 – Radarsat 1, Canada's 1st radar remote sensing satellite.
    1997-2001
      Sep. 1999 – Ikonos 1, 1st commercial remote sensing satellite.   Jun. 1997 – Feng Yun 2A, China's 1st geostationary weather satellite.

    May 1999 – Oceansat 1, India's 1st oceanography satellite.

    Oct. 1999 – CBERS-1, 1st joint Chinese/Brazilian remote sensing satellite.

    Dec. 1999 – Arirang 1, South Korea's 1st Earth observation satellite.

    2001-2006
        Oct. 2001 – Proba 1, ESA’s small remote sensing demonstrator satellite.

    Dec. 2001 – Jason 1, joint U.S.-French oceanography satellite.

    Mar. 2002 – Envisat, ESA’s large environmental satellite.

    Aug. 2002 – MSG-1, Europe's 2nd generation geostationary weather satellite.

    Apr. 2006 – Calipso, joint U.S.-French atmospheric satellite.

    Oct. 2006 – MetOp 1, Europe's 1st Sun-synchronous weather satellite

    May 2002 – Hai Yang 1A, China's 1st oceanography satellite.

    May 2004 – RoCSat 2, Taiwan's 1st remote sensing satellite.

    Apr. 2006 – Yaogan 1, China's 1st radar remote sensing satellite.

    2007
        June 2007 – Cosmo-SkyMed 1, Italian radar remote sensing satellite.

    June 2007 – TerraSAR-X, German radar remote sensing satellite.

     

    Last update: 14 July 2009

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