Among the satellites so far shot into orbit, perhaps the most useful to man was Tiros I, the "weather eye," whose pictures of the earth's cloud pattern gave a valuable overall view of global weather. Last week the U.S. launched Tiros II, to improve on the work of its predecessor. The 280-lb., drum-shaped satellite, spangled with 9,260 solar cells, went into a nearly circular orbit about 400 miles above the earth. All except one of its instruments worked fine; only the wide-angle TV camera for photographing large-scale cloud cover was out of kilter.
Tiros II has two cameras. Both are water-glass size,...