The San Marco programme was an Italian satellite launch programme conducted between the early 1960s and the late 1980s. The project resulted in the launch of the first Italian-built satellite, San Marco 1, on December 15, 1964. With this launch Italy became one of the first countries in the world to operate its own satellite, after the Soviet Union and the United States. San Marco was a collaboration between the Italian Space Research Commission (CRS) (a branch of the National Research Council), led by Luigi Broglio and Edoardo Amaldi, and NASA. In total 5 satellites were launched during the programme, all using American Scout rockets. The first flew from Wallops Flight Facility with the rest conducted from the San Marco Equatorial Range. The last satellite, San Marco-D/L, launched on Marc