On Oct. 16, 1975, NASA launched the first operational GOES satellite!

GOES-A was the first in a series of weather satellites that NASA jointly operated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The name is short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite . GOES-A launched on a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. GOES satellites all have a geostationary orbit, which means they always face the same part of Earth — in this case, the Indian Ocean. Once GOES-A became operational, it was renamed GOES-1.

The GOES satellite fleet has grown over the years, and is a critical link in the chain of satellites tracking Earth's weather from space. In 2016, NASA and NOAA launched GOES-R , the first in a new next-generation series of GOES weather satellites, with more to follow in ensuing years.

An artist's illustration of the GOES-1 weather satellite.…