Science - friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki GitHub Wiki

The Vanguard program was intended to launch the first artificial satellite into orbit, though it ultimately lost that race to Sputnik and ultimately Explorer-1 became the first US satellite to successfully reach orbit. Meanwhile TIROS-1 was the first in a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites that proved there was a practical scientific application for studying the Earth from space. Since those early days there have been hundreds of science and exploration satellites launched.