The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.

The Transit system, also known as NAVSAT or NNSS, was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The radio navigation system was primarily used by the U.S. Navy to provide accurate location information to its Polaris ballistic missile submarines, and it was also used as a navigation system by the Navy's surface ships, as well as for hydrographic survey and geodetic surveying. Transit provided continuous navigation satellite service from 1964, initially for Polaris submarines and later for civilian use as well. In the Project DAMP Program, the missile tracking ship USAS American Mariner also used data from the satellite for precise ship's location information prior to positioning its tracking radars.

Satellite navigation (satnav) or satellite positioning is the use of artificial satellites for navigation or geopositioning. A global navigation satellite system (GNSS) provides coverage for any user on Earth, including air, land, and sea. There are four operational GNSS systems: the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), and the European Union's Galileo.