Originally called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), it is a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The OLI and TIRS sensors will see improved signal to noise radiometric (SNR) performance, enabling 12-bit quantization of data allowing for more bits for better land-cover characterization.

Orbital was responsible for the design and manufacture of the Landsat 8 spacecraft bus, the integration of the customer-furnished payload instruments, and full observatory testing, including environmental and EMI/EMC.

OLI uses a technological approach demonstrated by the Advanced Land Imager sensor flown on NASA's experimental Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.

With over 7000 detectors per spectral band, the pushbroom design results in increased sensitivity, fewer moving parts, and improved land surface information.

With TIRS being a late addition to the Landsat 8 satellite, the design life requirement was relaxed in order to expedite development of the sensor.

Mission data from the satellite is downlinked to receiving stations in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Gilmore Creek, Arkansas, and Svalbard, Norway.

In August 2004, a memorandum from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) directed Federal agencies to place Landsat-type sensors on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) platform.

Following an evaluation of the technical complexity of this task, the strategy was adjusted and on 23 December 2005, the OSTP issued a memorandum directing NASA to implement the Landsat 8 in the form of a free-flyer spacecraft carrying an instrument referred to as the Operational Land Imager (OLI).

[15] Seventy eight minutes and thirty seconds later, the spacecraft separated from the Atlas V upper stage, successfully completing the launch.

On 19 December 2014, ground controllers detected anomalous current levels associated with the Scene Select Mirror (SSM) encoder electronics.

[18] On 3 November 2015, the ability of TIRS to accurately measure the location of the Scene Select Mirror (SSM) was compromised and the encoder was powered off.