spacetoday.net: Atlas 5 launches Landsat 9

Posted: Sat, Oct 2, 2021, 9:42 AM ET (1342 GMT)
An Atlas 5 launched the latest Landsat Earth observation satellite Monday. The Atlas 5 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 2:12 pm EDT (1812 GMT) and deployed the Landsat 9 satellite into sun-synchronous orbit an hour and 20 minutes later. Landsat 9 is similar to the existing Landsat 8 spacecraft, with some improvements in its instruments, and will operate in conjunction with Landsat 8. The new Landsat will ensure the continuity of data from the Landsat series of spacecraft dating back nearly half a century. The launch also carried four smallsat secondary payloads, two science satellites sponsored by NASA and two technology demonstrations from CesiumAstro.