ATS-3

NASA launches Applications Technology Satellite-3, bundling new technology demonstrations onto a new weather satellite in geosynchronous orbit. Offering the first color view of Earth from that orbit, ATS-3 also relays weather data to specially equipped ground stations. It remains in service through 1975. This is the second ATS satellite to have a successful outcome, with ATS-2, ATS-4 and ATS-5 all faling victim to various kinds of launch failures.