Images

One of Landsat 3’s first images, captured by the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) 4 days after launch, features a slice of Northern California on March 7, 1978. San Jose sits in Santa Clara Valley touching the southernmost portion of San Francisco. This image showcases the urbanization of the valley, which exploded in the 1970s as Silicon Valley grew.

Landsat 2’s first light image captured Drayton Valley in Alberta, Canada on January 24, 1975. Located along Canadian Highway 22, also known as Cowboy Trail, the town’s original economy thrived on faming and logging. The discovery of the Pembina oil field in 1953 contributed to explosive growth in the sparsely populated area, w

Example of the Landsat 1-5 MSS Collection 2 level-1 product. This Landsat 1 image was acquired on June 26, 1974 near Fallon, Nevada and is shown as a false color composite using the near-infrared, red, and green bands (bands 3,2,1).

This false-color image, captured by Landsat 1 on February 13, 1974, shows the landscape around Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta. Using bands 7 (near-infrared), 6 (red), and 5 (green), the image highlights water in dark blue, sediment-laden channels in lighter shades of blue, and vegetation in shades of yellow and green. 

Landsat 2’s first light image features a slice of Alberta, Canada, captured on January 24, 1975 on Path 047 Row 023. This false color images uses two near infrared bands and the red band (Bands 7,6,5).

Learn more about Landsat 2 by visiting the Landsat 2 Mission Web Page

This Landsat 1 image, acquired on January 13, 1973, offers one of the earliest satellite perspectives of Antarctica’s Ross Island and McMurdo Sound. Captured using the Multispectral Scanner’s (MSS) near-infrared, red, and green bands (6, 5, 4), the image highlights the region's glaciated terrain, floating sea ice, and volcanic peaks.

An artist's rendering of the pioneering Earth observation satellite that launched the Landsat program, providing critical data for monitoring land cover and environmental changes since 1972.

Learn more about the Landsat Mission

This early Landsat 1 image, acquired on July 31, 1972, captures the Kennicott, Nabesna, and Barnard Glaciers in southeastern Alaska—just a week after the satellite’s launch. Using bands 6, 5, and 4, the image reveals glacial ice, rugged mountain terrain, and braided rivers within the Wrangell–St. Elias region.

Within days of the launch, Landsat 1 acquired an image of an astounding 81,000-acre (327.8 square kilometers) fire burning in isolated, central Alaska. For the first time ever, scientists and resource management officials were able to see the full extent of damage from a fire in a single image while it was still burning.

Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, slid into Landsat 1's view on July 25, 1972. In this false-color image, shades of red indicate vegetated land and grays and whites are urban or rocky surfaces. The composite image is shown using the near-infrared, red and green bands (bands 7, 5, 4) at a 60 meter resolution.

Pecora, a geologist, served as director of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1965 to 1971 and as under secretary of the Department of the Interior from 1971 until his death in 1972. Pecora advocated for the potential of remote sensing for Earth observation and led the development of the Earth Resources Observation Systems program in 1966.

Nymph stage box elder bugs gather on the leaves of a hosta plant.

Adult and nymph stage box elder bugs gather on the leaves of a hosta plant growing at the base of a silver maple tree. Adults have fully formed, mainly black wings.

Adult, immature, and nymph stage box elder bugs gather on the leaves of a hosta plant growing at the base of a silver maple tree. Adults have fully formed, mainly black wings.

Adult, immature adult, and nymph state box elder bugs gather on the ground in a residential garden under a silver maple tree.

A complete shell of a horseshoe crab lies in the tidal line on a beach among dried seaweeds.

Prop roots of the red mangrove line the banks of a coastal marine estuary.

Acacia thorns are stacked into hedges used as fences to protect land and livestock.

Researchers walk along a fence constructed of giant reed grass that separates agricultural fields.

Goats forage in an Argan tree.

Adult, immature, and nymph stage box elder bugs gather on the leaves of a hosta plant growing at the base of a silver maple tree. Adults have fully formed, mainly black wings.