Global observations of the airglow, aurora, and solar scatter radiance of the earth's atmosphere have been made in the 1100- to 2900-¿ wavelength region. The spectrometer and photometer utilized were pointed toward the earth center at all times on the polar-orbiting Department of Defense satellite S3--4. The experiment is described, and initial measurements are discussed. These measurements include detection of the nitrogen Lyman-Birge-Hopfield bands in the nightglow as well as in the dayglow. In addition, nitric oxide delta and gamma bands and oxygen Herzberg bands are found in the nightglow. VUV auroral enhancement and the tropical UV airglow due to atomic oxygen emission are also discussed.