Satellite measurements from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's (DMSP), Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) have been produced since July 1987 and continue to function operationally today. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has served as the active archive of SSM/I data which are produced by the Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorological and Oceanic Center. SSM/I data measurements have been used extensively to generate climate data sets (including rain, snow, ice, cloud liquid water, and total precipitable water) in support of both national and international programs. Due to the incomplete archive of SSM/I data at NCDC, this study will explain the data rescue efforts currently being undertaken to find SSM/I Temperature Data Record (TDR) data before 1993 (mainly F-8 satellite). This study will also identify and provide a solution to some of the major data quality issues of SSM/I data before February 1997, which has made it unreliable for use by potential customers. In order to devise a data quality algorithm that is more comprehensive than simple threshold algorithms and preserves the original data, an appended file containing a data flag classification scheme was determined to be most effective. Data quality flags address error caused by sun glint, climatology quality control checks, geolocation checks, nonphysical distance between pixels, temperature threshold checks, unrealistic latitude/longitude values, non-linear or disconnected time values, and erroneous adjacent/cross-polarization pixel values. Complete archiving of SSM/I data and the application of data quality algorithms will be the first step in reaching a critical level of data maturity and preservation.