Eyes on Earth Episode 127 – The Historic Landsat 7 Mission

In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we talk about the incredible career of Landsat 7, which collected science imagery of the Earth for nearly 25 years. The Flight Operations Team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and engineers at EROS work together to collect imagery, send commands to the satellite, and keep it healthy. After over 133,000 orbits and 3.3 million images collected, Landsat 7 stopped acquiring imagery in 2024. We talked with some of the people who helped keep Landsat 7 flying to make sure it could keep doing its job during its long life. They talk about the close calls, different types of maneuvers, working on holidays, and creatively solving problems to keep it flying and operating. And as always, we discuss the importance of the Landsat mission, its global legacy, and the continuity of the long record that goes back to 1972.