An Atlas V rocket on Monday climbed above the Central Coast where the marine layer spoiled the view of 2000th launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base as the latest Landsat spacecraft departed to continue a 50-year legacy of capturing Earth images.
Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket occurred at 11:12 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-3 on South Base.
Landsat, a joint program between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, is the ninth of a series of Earth-observation satellites that first headed to space in 1972.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Landsat have provided “the longest continuous global satellite record of the Earth’s surface.”
“These satellites have documented Earth’s changing landscape. It helps farmers and scientists understand and manage land resources, and all of that is needed to sustain human life, such things as food and water and forests,” Nelson said in a recorded statement.
Some 80 minutes after liftoff, ground controllers confirmed the satellite had arrived in orbit. Another hour later, release of the four Cubesats that hitched a ride on the rocket also occurred.
“That is a huge milestone to get Landsat 9 on her way,” said Mic Woltman from NASA’s Launch Services Program.
They also achieved another early and vital milestone — acquisition of signal from the craft, which now will undergo post-launch checkouts in preparation to begin its mission.
This rocket included a special dedication to the late Thomas Heter II, a Lompoc resident who worked on Titan and Atlas programs during his 45 year in the industry before retiring as Vandenberg launch operations director for Lockheed Martin Corp. He died in 2019 and was the husband of a local educator, Roberta Heter.
A special dedication on the rocket read, “In memory of our colleague and friend Tom Heter II.”
One of his sons, ULA employee Thomas Heter III, served as launch director for Monday’s mission.
In the days leading up to Monday’s launch, Lompoc helped NASA and USGS celebrate Landsat’s 50th anniversary with a number of community events culminating with a viewing party attracting a several hundred people to the Lompoc Airport where various exhibit booths were set up for spectators.
On Sunday, approximately 100 people gathered for the dedication of Lompoc’s newest mural on a wall at the corner of West Ocean Avenue and North I Street focused on Landsat’s five decades of monitoring Earth from space.
“The rich history of the Landsat satellites…have resulted in over three million images that document Earth’s changing landscapes,” said Steve Krein, vice president of the civil and commercial satellites, for Northrop Grumman.
Northrop Grumman’s employees at various locations worked on assorted aspects of the spacecraft including the team in Goleta which designed and manufactured the solar array.
“The Landsat data is used all over the world and it’s a great feeling to know that Northrop Grumman and the team contribute to helping make the world a better place,” Krein said. “We, and myself personally, take great pride as a trusted partner in this endeavor. We are incredibly excited for this newest chapter that will increase the understanding of our planet and our environment, leveraging the science data and imagery that we’ll bring to fruition in the Landsat 9 launch.”
While Northrop Gruman built the frame, or satellite bus, Landsat’ 9’s key instrument, the Operational Land Imager 2, came from Ball Aerospace.
Following Vandenberg’s first launch in 1958, Monday’s liftoff marked the 2000th launch from the base and fourth during September.
NASA has another mission from Vandenberg this fall with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) satellite.
That craft will ride aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, tentatively set for launch Nov. 23, to conduct a test of technologies for preventing a hazardous asteroid from harming Earth.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.