Stars were first used for this purpose by the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä in 1959, who made astrometric photographs of the night sky at two stations together with a lighted balloon probe between them.
Adequate computer programs were written for The advantages of stellar triangulation were the possibility to cross far distances (terrestrial observations are restricted to approx.
It was finished in 1974 by precise reduction of some 3000 stellar plates and network adjustment of 46 stations (2 additional ones in Germany and the Pacific, but without the areas of Russia and China).
Combined with Doppler measurements (such as from Transit) the global accuracy was even 3 m. This is more than 20 times better than previously, because the gravity field up to 1974 couldn't be calculated better than 100 meters between distant continents.
The use of stars as a reference system was expanded in the 70s and early 80s for continental networks, but then the laser and electronic distance measurements became better than 2 m and could be carried out automatically.