After its usefulness as a weather satellite had ended, GOES 3 was moved and used in the Peacesat (Pan-Pacific Educational and Cultural Experiments by Satellite) project to provide two-way voice and data services to Pacific island nations. A similar service was first provided to that part of the globe by ATS 6 in 1971. GOES 3 was launched on June 16, 1978 to replace GOES 1. Its main meteorological instrument failed in May 1980. GOES started out as the Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS). The geosynchronous orbit had the advantage of providing coverage of an entire hemisphere around the clock. After the success of the two SMS spacecraft, launched on May 17, 1974 and February 6, 1975, NASA turned over the program to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for operation. NOAA bought additional spacecraft identical to SMS with the new name Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES).
SMS-GOES were built by Philco-Ford under contract to GSFC. A new generation of three-axis stabilized spacecraft (GOES I-M) is currently being developed by NASA for NOAA. The contractor for development of GOES I through GOES M is Space Systems/Loral (formerly Ford Aerospace).
GOES 7, built by Hughes Aircraft, was the first GOES with a SARSAT capability. SARSAT (Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking) is the international search and rescue system for people, ships, and planes in distress. GOES relays the emergency distress signals through a dedicated transponder.