The United States lost the first battle of the space race when the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik I, the first earth orbiting satellite on October 4, 1957. This first satellite weighed only 183 pounds and was the size of a basketball. The elliptical orbit of Sputnik around the Earth took only 98 minutes to complete.

The basis for the space race actually

The first true geostationary weather satellite was known as Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS) I. SMS I was launched in 1974. It had the capability to not only monitor weather conditions but also served as a relay for meteorological data from over 10,000 locations to a central processing center for incorporation into numerical weather prediction models. SMS I was in a geostationary orbit over the equator at 45 degrees west latitude (approximately half way between Little Rock and London). This location provided continuous coverage Central and Eastern United States and a small portion of Western Europe. SMS I was deactivated by NASA on January 21,1981.

Russia opened the door to space in 1957 and the United States opened space up to meteorologists in 1960 with the launch of TIROS I. TIROS IX furthered the science by the production of the first mosaic of the entire world’s cloud cover.

The TIROS series launches were continued through July of 1965. There were a total of ten TIROS satellites with significant improvements in each. The orbit path planned for the TIROS was at four hundred miles above the earth.

Their theories became a reality when the United States launched Syncom II, the world’s first successful geostationary satellite. Syncom II was launched and entered service on July 26, 1963. The development and deployment of the Applications Technology Satellite series rapidly followed this development. While originally designed as communications satellites, excess space available allowed meteorological sensors to be added to the payload.

The United States is obviously not the only nation with weather satellites in orbit. Russia currently has two Geostationary in orbit, Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite (GOMS) 1 and GOMS 2.

The United States Government decided to launch an earth orbiting satellite and asked various government agencies to undertake development. But, before the United States could launch its three and one-half pound Vanguard satellite, the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik I and Sputnik II.

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