NASA successfully launched the Improved Tiros Operational Satellite (ITOS I) (TIROS-M) from Vandenberg AFB aboard a two-stage, Long Tank Thrust Augmented Thor/Delta (SLV-2K), Thorad/Delta, using six solid-propellaiit, strap-on Thiokol TX 354-5 Castor II motors. This was the first use of the "Super Six" Thor/Delta (DSV-3N-6) booster vehicle that employed the six Castor II motors, three of which ignited 30 seconds after lift-off. Generating nearly 600,000 pounds of thrust, the new launch vehicle could orbit a spacecraft weighing more than twice as much as the previous Tiros Operational Satellites. Improved TIROS Operational Satellite. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic Ocean at 55 deg W in 1975-1976; over the Pacific Ocean 135 deg W in 1976-1978; over the Atlantic Ocean 10 deg W in 1978; over the Indian Ocean 58 deg E in 1978-1979; over the Pacific Ocean 135 deg W in 1979-1980; over the Atlantic Ocean 93 deg W in 1980; over the Pacific Ocean 130 deg W in 1980-1985 As of 3 September 2001 located at 81.97 deg W drifting at 0.051 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 81.95W drifting at 0.055W degrees per day.

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Atlantic Ocean at 75 deg W in 1977-1978 over the Americas at 100-110 deg W in 1979-1984 over the Americas at 112-114 deg W in 1984-1990 over the Atlantic Ocean 60 deg W in 1990-1992 over the Pacific Ocean 135 deg W in 1992-1995; over the Pacific Ocean 177 deg W in 1995-on. As of 4 September 2001 located at 147.59 deg W drifting at 3.154 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 8 located at 1.58W drifting at 3.141W degrees per day.

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean at 135 deg W in 1978-1981 over the Americas at 90 deg W in 1982-1984 over the Pacific Ocean 135 deg W in 1985-1987 over the Americas at129 deg W in 1987-1990 over the Pacific Ocean 175 deg W in 1990-1995 over the Americas at 102-110 deg W in 1996-on. As of 5 September 2001 located at 101.78 deg W drifting at 0.017 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 105.91W drifting at 0.030W degrees per day.

Unusable orbit; would have been NOAA 7. At engine start up, one of the booster engines suffered an internal fuel leak, causing it to run at about 80% thrust. As a result the booster was low on velocity and heavy on propellant over much of its flight and ran an incredible 50 seconds longer than the nominal burn. The NOAA Advanced TIROS payload was designed with no direct communication with the booster, and unaware of the booster problem, at 375 sec after liftoff attempted to separate with the booster still firing. The booster's continued thrusting defeated the payload's attempt to perform the required pitch maneuver. When the payload fired its apogee kick motor, it blew the top of the booster's liquid oxygen tank off. The spacecraft survived all this, but the resultant orbit was highly elliptical rather than the desired circular sun-synchronous. The mission was a total loss. Officially: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).>

Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 98 deg W in 1980-1981; 135 deg W in 1981-1983; 135-143 deg W in 1983; 139 deg W in 1984-1985; 10 deg W in 1985; 44 deg W in 1985-1988 As of 5 September 2001 located at 37.03 deg E drifting at 3.758 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 45.89E drifting at 3.763W degrees per day.

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 85 deg W in 1981; 75 deg W in 1981-1987; 106 deg W in 1987-1988; 65 deg W in 1988-1989 As of 31 August 2001 located at 107.28 deg W drifting at 0.248 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 110.88W drifting at 0.246W degrees per day.

Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 135 deg W in 1983-1984; 97 deg W in-108 deg W in 1984-1987; 135 deg W in 1987-1992 As of 5 September 2001 located at 75.78 deg W drifting at 0.054 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 83.60W drifting at 0.139W degrees per day.

Stationed at 83 deg W. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 75 deg W in 1987-1988; 108 deg W in-98 deg W in 1989-1992; 111 deg W in 1992; 112 deg W in 1993-1994; 135 deg W in 1995; 98 deg W in 1996-1998 As of 5 September 2001 located at 179.83 deg E drifting at 0.023 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 176.12W drifting at 0.061W degrees per day.

Geostationary Environmental Satellite. Stationed at 75 deg W. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A). Launch vehicle put payload into supersynchronous earth orbit with MRS trajectory option. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 90 deg W in 1994-1995; 75 deg W in 1995-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 74.78 deg W drifting at 0.019 deg E per day. NASA announced that GOES-8 was "de-orbited" (presumably moved to a sub-synchronous orbit) on May 5, 2004 after 10 years of service. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 87.46E drifting at 4.935W degrees per day.

Stationed at 135 deg W. Launch vehicle put payload into supersynchronous earth orbit with MRS trajectory option. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 90 deg W in 1995; 135 deg W in 1996-1998; 98-105 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 5 September 2001 located at 103.62 deg W drifting at 0.009 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 159.81E drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.

Geosynchronous. Stationed over 105.7W Launch vehicle put payload into supersynchronous earth orbit with MRS trajectory option. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 105 deg W in 1997-1998; 135 deg W in 1998-1999 As of 6 September 2001 located at 135.09 deg W drifting at 0.037 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 59.64W drifting at 0.009W degrees per day.

NOAA K carried a new microwave sensor in addition to the standard optical/near-infrared radiometers and imagers and the SARSAT search and rescue package. It was the first NOAA launch to use the Titan 23G launch vehicle, a refurbished ICBM. Titan 23G-12 placed NOAA K into a suborbital trajectory 6 minutes after launch. A Star 37XFP solid motor on the satellite fired at apogee to put NOAA K in orbit.

US civilian geostationary weather satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series. It was the first GOES launch on the Atlas II launch vehicle (the Atlas I having been phased out). Built by SS/Loral, based on the FS-1300 bus. It was equipped with one solar panel array and a counter-boom with a solar sail. The satellite carried well as an imaging radiometer and an X-ray detector to monitor solar activity. Stationed at 106 deg W. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 104 deg W in 2000. As of 5 September 2001 located at 108.58 deg W drifting at 0.018 deg E per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 135.52W drifting at 0.001E degrees per day.

Launch attempt on September 20 scrubbed. The NOAA polar orbit weather satellite, an Advanced Tiros N with a suite of imaging and sounding instruments. The two-stage Titan II launch vehicle, serial 23G-13, put NOAA-L into a suborbital -2500 x 800 km x 98.0 deg trajectory. The spacecraft's Thiokol Star 37XFP solid motor fired at apogee to circularize the sun-synchronous orbit at 800 km.

Launch delayed from July 12, 15 and 22. The GOES-M weather satellite was placed by the Atlas AC-142 Centaur stage into a 164 x 505 km parking orbit and then a super synchronous transfer orbit of 274 x 42275 km x 20 deg. GOES-M was a Loral 1300-series satellite with a single solar array and a solar attitude control sail. Launch mass was 2279 kg and dry mass 1042 kg. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites were developed by NASA-Goddard and were transferred to the NOAA weather agency when operational. In addition to the usual weather imager/sounder, GOES-M carried a new solar soft X-ray imager. Earlier GOES satellites carried simple X-ray collimator detectors, but the new SXI was a full-fledged grazing incidence telescope similar to the SXT on Japan's Yohkoh satellite. The GOES-M satellite was redesignated GOES 12 once in orbit.

GOES 12 was a 980 kg, 973 W spacecraft that carried an IR imager, a "sounder", and an X-ray imager. The IR imager was a Cassegrain telescope covering five wavelength channels, 0.55-0.75, 3.80-4.00, 6.50-7.00, 10.20-11.20, and 11.50-12.50 microns. It provided images covering 3,000 km x 3,000 km every 41 seconds, by scanning the area in 16 square kilometer sections. The "sounder" provided vertical distribution of temperature, moisture and ozone, by passive monitoring in 18 depth-dependent wavelengths. (Long wave IR: 14.71, 14.37, 14.06, 13.64, 13.37, 12.66, and 12.02 microns. Medium wave IR: 11.03, 9.71, 7.43, 7.02, and 6.51 microns. Short wave IR: 4.57, 4.52, 4.45, 4.13, 3.98, and 3.74 microns. There was also another band at visible wavelength 0.7 microns, to provide pictures of cloud tops.) The sounder covered an area of 3,000 km x 3,000 km in about 42 minutes. Another instrument package named SEM (Space Environment Monitor) monitored the energetic electrons and protons in the magnetosphere and the X-rays from the Sun. The above three had been carried on the earlier GOES missions, but GOES 12 carried also an X-ray imager providing an X-ray (about 0.1-1.0 nm wavelength) picture of the solar disk. For some months, the spacecraft was to be on standby, to be activated and moved to a desired longitude. As of 5 September 2001 located at 89.93 deg W drifting at 0.001 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 74.73W drifting at 0.014E degrees per day.

Launch delayed from August 2001. The refurbished Titan 2 missile put the NOAA M satellite on a suborbital trajectory of about -2500 x 820 km x 98 deg. at 1829 UTC. At 1837 UTC the NOAA M propulsion module fired its ATK/Thiokol Star 37XFP solid motor for the orbit insertion burn, followed by a hydrazine trim burn to put the satellite in an 807 x 822 km x 98.8 deg operational orbit. NOAA M became NOAA 17 on entering service with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as the primary morning weather satellite, supplementing the NOAA 16 afternoon satellite. Built by Lockheed Martin, NOAA M carried weather imagers and microwave and infrared sounders, as well as a SARSAT search-and-rescue package. It had an on-orbit mass of 1475 kg.

GOES-13 carried weather imager and sounder instruments, a space environment monitor, and a soft X-ray solar imaging telescope. Mass was 1543 kg empty. It joined GOES 10 (operating as GOES-WEST), GOES 12 (operating as GOES-EAST) and GOES 11 (on standby, set to replace GOES-10 on June 27). As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 105.26W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.