TIROS weather satellite. Engineer with the equipment that will be mounted on a TIROS (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) satellite (top). TIROS was a series of early weather satellites launched by NASA, beginning with TIROS 1 in 1960 and ending with TIROS 10 in 1966. The 120kg satellites were launched on board a Thor Able rocket and carried two cameras, one with a wide angle lens, the other with a telephoto lens. The program was extremely successful in proving the usefulness of satellite weather observation.