So, bringing our pursuit of keeping an eye on the weather, here we have an artificial eye, launched in April 1960. This machine was the world`s first weather satellite, and it was called TIROS I, being an acronym for Television Infra-red Observation Satellite.
The idea of the satellite was that it roamed above the planet, taking pictures, and sending them down to scientists below it on Earth, who could see storms developing much easier, and over a far greater area of the planet, than had ever been possible before. Think of that man, or probably a boy, up in the crows nest amongst the rigging of his tall ship, looking out to sea to try and spot a storm, whilst knowing that most of the sky was out of sight.
TIROS I did not get off to such a good start, as its first image did not show the weather as a clear picture, but as a fuzzy one, of clouds across America. However a few days later all was redeemed, with the first photograph of a typhoon, a thousand miles away from Australia.
I am not quite sure what it had to do with putting a man on the moon though.
Now this was a really fiendish card for you to identify, because it was the Canadian version, issued by O-Pee-Chee. But this set was issued by Topps, as well as by A & B.C. Gum - all in the same year. Those links take you to the illustrated checklists of each one of those versions, courtesy of the Trading Card Database - but nowhere do they link them all together.
We have also featured the A. & B.C Gum version as a Card of the Day, on the 27th of August, 2023