NOAA-4, also known as ITOS-G was a weather satellite

Weather satellite

The weather satellite is a type of satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be either polar orbiting, seeing the same swath of the Earth every 12 hours, or geostationary, hovering over the same spot on Earth by orbiting over the equator while...

 operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...

 (NOAA). It was part of a series of satellites called ITOS, or improved TIROS

TIROS

TIROS, or Television Infrared Observation Satellite, is a series of early weather satellites launched by NASA, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth. This initial remote-sensing effort was significant because it enabled Earth...

. NOAA-4 was launched on a Delta rocket

Delta rocket

Delta is a versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. There have been more than 300 Delta rockets launched, with a 95 percent success rate. Two Delta launch systems – Delta II and Delta IV – are in active use...

 on 15 November 1974. The launch carried two other satellites: AMSAT-OSCAR 7

AMSAT-OSCAR 7

AO-7 is the second Phase 2 amateur satellite launched into Low Earth Orbit on 15 November 1974. It remained operational until a battery failure in 1981...

and Intasat. It remained operational for 1463 days until it was deactivated by NOAA on 18 November 1978.