Application satellites, not the moon race, are the subject here: this 1970 NASA production narrated by Charles Hughes surveys what orbiting hardware is already doing for people on the ground and what NASA expects from it through the 1970s. The film walks through Earth resources surveys, satellite tracking of pollution levels, mineral prospecting from orbit, longer-range weather forecasting, more precise Earth measurement, and improved navigation and communications links. Footage shows sensors reading changes in vegetation and detecting underground water, the kind of data meteorologists were starting to use to give earlier warning of hurricanes and other severe weather. Looking ahead, the film predicts satellites will soon track oil spills, provide early warning for natural disasters, and help farmers raise crop yields. Produced and directed by Joseph Headlee and edited by George Merriken, it is a period piece of institutional filmmaking as much as a technology reel, presenting the space program's payoff in strictly terrestrial terms: fields, coastlines, and storm systems rather than orbits and rockets.