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Watch this: NASA footage of the first Landsat satellite launch in 1972

NASA has put together a video full of clips from 1972, the year the first Landsat satellite launched into space.

NASA has put together a video full of clips from 1972, the year the first Landsat satellite launched into space.

Andrew Webster
is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.

40 years ago today, the very first satellite launched as part of the Landsat program, which has since become the longest-running Earth-observing satellite program ever. To celebrate that day in 1972, NASA has put together a video featuring some delightfully retro footage from its archives that really makes you feel like you’re back in the 70s. It’s a great look back at an important part of the space program, which has helped provide valuable information over the past four decades. “The first 40 years of the Landsat program have delivered the most consistent and reliable record of Earth’s changing landscape,” Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, said. And it’s still going strong — next February NASA will be launching Landsat 8, described as the “most technologically advanced satellite” in the program to date.


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