The Landsat program is the longest running enterprise for
acquisition of imagery of Earth from space. The first Landsat
satellite was launched in 1972; the most recent, Landsat 7, was
launched on April 15, 1999. The instruments on the Landsat
satellites have acquired millions of images. The images,
archived in the United States and at Landsat receiving stations
around the world, are a unique resource for global change
research and applications in agriculture, cartography, geology,
forestry, regional planning, surveillance, education and
national security. Landsat 7 data has eight spectral bands with
spatial resolutions ranging from 15 to 60 meters. The initial
centerline for the primary layout of the MSS was drawn by Jim
Kodak, the opto-mechanical design engineer who designed the
Pioneer spacecraft optical camera, the first instrument to leave
the solar system. The program was called the Earth Resources
Observation Satellites Program when it was initiated in 1966,
but the name was changed to Landsat in 1975.