In 1960, the first U.S. weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched.
TIROS stood for Television and InfraRed Observation Satellite. With TIROS-1, it became possible to observe the Earth’s weather conditions on a regular basis from the vantage point of outer space.
Learn more at http://noaasis.noaa.gov/NOAASIS/ml/40yearsa.html