Video showing the engineers bringing TIRS out of its first round of thermal-vacuum testing. thumbnail: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010859/G2011-116_TIRS_TVAC1-H.264_gal.png

Ten Years of TIRS: Data for a Thirsty World
Landsat 8 very nearly flew without a thermal infrared sensor. This is the backstory of how TIRS made it onto Landsat 8.