Hyperspectral imaging has been emerged as a new generation of technology for Earth observation and space exploration since the beginning of this millennium and widely used in various disciplinary and applications. The fascinating detailed spectral information acquired by hyperspectral imagers often yields results not possible with multispectral or other types of satellites. This paper provides an overview of spaceborne hyperspectral imagers, technology evolution, and development history. After introduction of hyperspectral satellites, it first describes the principle of hyperspectral imaging. It then reviews the history of hyperspectral technology development, starting from the first airborne hyperspectral imager AIS built in early 1980's, the first operational airborne hyperspectral imager AVIRIS developed since middle 1980', the first commercial airborne hyperspectral instrument CASI fabricated since late 1980's, followed by the development of hyperspectral technology in Canada between 1980's and 1990's, and the NASA planned orbiting hyperspectral imagers in 1990's, until the first spaceborne hyperspectral imager Hyperion launched in 2000. This paper summaries the survey carried out by the author on spaceborne hyperspectral imagers to date. There exist at least twenty five hyperspectral imagers that have been deployed into space. Among them nineteen are aboard satellites orbiting Earth. Six of them are out of Earth orbits for Moon, Mars, Venus and comet missions. The paper briefly describes these spaceborne hyperspectral imagers and their mission objectives with the focus on the instrument performance parameters and technical features. This paper also briefly reviews six upcoming spaceborne hyperspectral imagers, including EnMAP, MAJIS, OCI, HyspIRI, FLORIS and CHIME.