OTD in Space - October 16: NASA Launches 1st GOES Weather Satellite

On October 16, 1975, NASA launched the first operational GOES satellite!

GOES A was the first in a series of weather satellites that NASA jointly operated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The name is short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. GOES A launched on a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral. GOES satellites all have a geostationary orbit, which means they always face the same part of Earth — in this case, the Indian Ocean. Once GOES A became operational, it was renamed GOES 1.