The development of the TIROS global environmental satellite system

From its very first orbit around the Earth, TIROS demonstrated the ability of the satellite to perform global observations on a timely basis. With the success of TIROS-1, there followed an orderly growth and evolution of the TIROS family of meteorological satellites over the next two decades. The chronology of the TIROS satellites is depicted. A total of 28 TIROS/ESSA/ITOS/ (TIROS-N)/NOAA series of satellites was orbited successfully, all meeting or exceeding the mission requirements. The orbital performance of the TIROS satellites is presented.