Satélite de Coleta de Dados

The first Data-Collecting Satellite (Portuguese Satélite de Coleta de Dados) (aka SCD-1) was launched on February 9, 1993. It is the first satellite developed entirely in Brazil and it remains in operation in orbit to this date. SCD-1 was designed, developed, built, and tested by Brazilian scientists, engineers, and technicians working at INPE (National Institute of Space Research) and in Brazilian industries. It was made to be launched with a Brazilian rocket in 1989. Once it was officially recognized that the rocket could not be completed until many years later, SCD-1, after undergoing minor adaptations, was finally launched with a Pegasus rocket made by Orbital Sciences, a private United States corporation. The rocket was launched from a B-52 airplane while flying over the Atlantic Ocean.