Launched July 16, 1982, the Landsat 4 system had the then experimental thematic mapper (TM) sensor onboard as well as the multispectral scanner (MSS).

Beginning in 1983, Landsat 4 began experiencing malfunctions, this prompted the early launch of Landsat 5. Management of the spacecraft was transferred from NASA to NOAA with Landsat 4, management of Landsat 5 was transferred to Space Imaging who transferred Landsat 5 back to USGS in 2001.

The Landsat-4 ceased acquiring data in August of 1993 due to failures of the onboard data transmitters.

Spacecraft
Structure of aluminum with graphite struts. Hydrazine propulsion system. Single solar array with two NiCd batteries Retractable boom (4 m long) with 2 powered joints supports the articulated HGA which downlinks data via TDRSS. Communications system uses S, X, L, and Ku-Bands. 3-axis stabilized, zero momentum with control to 0.01 deg using reaction wheels. Shortly after launch, Landsat 4 lost use of half its solar power. Landsat 5 lost two of its primary communications systems (X-Band downlink and a Ku-Band TDRSS transponder) and backup systems were activated.

Payload
Carried Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) imaging sensors.

TM provided 7 bands of coverage and the MSS had 4 bands. MSS covers 0.5 to 12.6 µm with 80 m resolution and a 185 km swath width.

TM covers 0.45 to 12.5 µm with resolution of 30 m in the VIS/IR bands and 120 m in the thermal/IR bands.

Built by GE Astro Space, Fairchild
705 km circular, polar, sun-synchronous, repeating every
Repeat frequency 16 days with a 9:45 am equatorial crossing time
Design Life 5 years

More Info
On the Value of Coordinating Landsat Operations
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/projects/thesis/

http://www.earth.nasa.gov/history/landsat/landsat4.html
http://edc.usgs.gov/glis/hyper/guide/landsat_tm