VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif., Sept. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A United
Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is in final preparations to
launch the Landsat 9 mission for NASA. The launch is on track
for Sept. 27 from Space Launch
Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Launch is planned for
11:11 a.m. PDT. The live launch
broadcast begins at 10:30 a.m. PDT on
Sept. 27 at www.ulalaunch.com.
"We are proud to continue to serve as the primary launch
provider for Landsat missions. ULA and our heritage launch vehicles
have launched every Landsat mission since 1972," said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and
Commercial Programs. "The Landsat series provides outstanding data
for Earth environment and science-based research and Landsat 9 will
add to these capabilities. We have worked alongside our partners,
in a challenging health environment, to prepare to launch this
important mission that will empower Earth research from space for
decades to come."
Landsat 9 is a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS). In addition to Landsat 9, this mission includes the
ESPA Flight System (EFS) which will deploy multiple CubeSats after
Landsat 9 separation. The Atlas V will deploy Landsat 9 and the
CubeSats into two different orbits, enabling the first four-burn
Centaur mission for ULA on an Atlas V rocket. The Centaur upper
stage has the capacity for increased performance, and the flight
design of the Landsat 9 mission takes advantage of that
capability.
The mission will launch on an Atlas V 401 configuration rocket,
that includes a 13.7-ft (4-m) Extra Extended Payload Fairing
(XEPF) and stands 194 ft. (59 meters) tall. The Atlas booster for
this mission is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine. Aerojet
Rocketdyne provided the RL10C-1 engine for the Centaur upper
stage.
This will be the 88th launch of the Atlas V rocket
and 20th mission launched on an Atlas V in partnership
with NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP). This launch is the
300th Atlas launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base. To
date ULA has launched 144 times with 100 percent mission
success.
With more than a century of combined heritage, ULA is the
nation's most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA
has successfully delivered more than 140 missions to orbit that aid
meteorologists in tracking severe weather, unlock the mysteries of
our solar system, provide critical capabilities for troops in the
field, deliver cutting-edge commercial services and enable GPS
navigation. For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website
at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at
1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321).
Join the conversation: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
LinkedIn.
Photos available on the ULA Flickr page.
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SOURCE United Launch Alliance (ULA)