50th anniversary of the launch of ATS-1, the first geostationary satellite
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of ATS-1 on 06 December 1966. ATS-1 was the first meteorological satellite to be placed into a geostationary orbit — an example of one of the first ATS-1 visible images is seen below, and QuickTime movies are available which show animations of some early ATS-1 images. More information is available from SSEC and NOAA/NESDIS.