Satellites formerly orbiting Earth

Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructed from a repurposed Saturn V third stage (the S-IVB), and took the place of the stage during launch. Operations included an orbital workshop, a solar observatory, Earth observation and hundreds of experiments. Skylab's orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Austra

first satellite of the United States

former NASA space observatory

Soviet Venera spacecraft which failed to escape Earth orbit

first Japanese satellite put into orbit

first satellite launched specifically for the purpose of X-ray astronomy

series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites

Failed nuclear spacecraft

BeppoSAX was an Italian–Dutch satellite for X-ray astronomy which played a crucial role in resolving the origin of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most energetic events known in the universe. It was the first X-ray mission capable of simultaneously observing targets over more than 3 orders-of-magnitude of energy, from 0.1 to 300 kiloelectronvolts (keV) with relatively large area, good (for the time) energy resolution and imaging capabilities (with a spatial resolution of 1 arc minute between 0.1 and 10 keV). BeppoSAX was a major programme of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) with the participation o

Yohkoh (, 'Sunbeam'), known before launch as Solar-A, was a Solar observatory spacecraft of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Japan), in collaboration with space agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was launched into Earth orbit on August 30, 1991 by the M-3SII rocket from Kagoshima Space Center. It took its first soft X-ray image on 13 September 1991, 21:53:40, and movie representations of the X-ray corona over 1991-2001 are available at the Yohkoh Legacy site.

satellite

NASA space telescope for ultraviolet astronomy

series of Soviet spy satellites

former solar observatory satellite

Tenma, known as ASTRO-B before launch, was a Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. It was launched on 20 February 1983, using a M-3S rocket on the M-3S-3 mission. It was the second X-ray observatory successfully operated by Japan after Hakucho (CORSA-B), and it had a superior temporal and spectral sensitivity compared to its predecessor.

NASA space observatory launched on 1972

Russian Strela-2M satellite

series of artificial satellites of India

ionospheric research satellite

series of three American satellites launched in 1965

astronomical research satellite

satellite

communications satellite operated by Iridium Communications

first Italian satellite

WRESAT, or Weapons Research Establishment Satellite, was Australia's first satellite. It was named after its designer, the Weapons Research Establishment. WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket with two upper stages, known as a Sparta, from the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. The Sparta (left over from the joint Australian-US-UK Sparta program) was donated by the United States.

thumb|Scale model of the Hakucho at Noshiro, Akita|Noshiro City Children's Center Hakucho (also known as CORSA-b before launch; CORSA stands for Cosmic Radiation Satellite) was Japan's first X-ray astronomy satellite, developed by the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (then a division of the University of Tokyo). It was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center by the ISAS M-3C rocket on the M-3C-4 mission on February 21, 1979 and reentered the atmosphere on April 15, 1985.

former NASA research satellite

NASA space observatory

Russian artificial satellite

free-flying experiment platform orbited by the Space Shuttle

PAGEOS (PAssive Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) was a balloon satellite which was launched by NASA in June 1966. It was the first satellite specifically launched for use in geodetic surveying, or measuring the shape of the earth, by serving as a reflective and photographic tracking target. At the time, it improved on terrestrial triangulations of the globe by about an order of magnitude. The satellite, which carried no instrumentation, broke up between 1975 and 1976. One of the largest fragments of the satellite finally deorbited in 2016.

Badr-1 (, meaning Full Moon-A) was the first artificial and the first digital communications satellite launched by Pakistan's national space authority — the SUPARCO — in 1990. The Badr-1 was Pakistan's first indigenously developed and manufactured digital communications and an experimental artificial satellite which was launched into low Earth orbit by Pakistan on 16 July 1990, through a Chinese carrier rocket. The launch ushered in new military, technological, and scientific developments in Pakistan and also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Originally planned to b

atmospheric research satellite

series of satellites used for geophysical research

former NASA research satellite

radio astronomy satellite

former American research satellite

atmospheric research satellite

satellite

astronomical research satellite

satellite

American reconnaissance satellite series

Soviet anti-satellite test target satellite

reconnaissance satellite

was the second Japanese artificial satellite which was put into orbit, after the country's first satellite Ohsumi. The satellite was sent into orbit on 16 February 1971.

Soviet military artificial satellite

NASA satellite of the Explorer program

NASA artificial satellite

solar space observatory

NASA space program which sent frogs into orbit

CAT-1 (also Technological Capsule 1, also Obélix) was the first artificial Earth satellite launched by the European Space Agency on their own rocket, the Ariane 1. It was only intended to provide data on the launch characteristics of the new rocket and was only powered for 8 orbits.

Tubsat-N was a German miniaturized satellite for communication designed by Technische Universität Berlin. The satellite was launched on July 7, 1998 by the Russian submarine K-407 Novomoskovsk in Barents Sea using a Shtil' rocket.