spacetoday.net: Falcon 9 launches NASA's PACE Earth science satellite

Posted: Sat, Feb 10, 2024, 12:01 PM ET (1701 GMT)
Falcon 9 launch of PACE (SpaceX)

SpaceX launched a NASA Earth science satellite early Thursday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:33 am EST (0633 GMT) and placed into orbit NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, or PACE, spacecraft. The nearly billion-dollar spacecraft will collect data to monitor ocean biology as well as clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The launch was the first U.S. government mission to go to polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1960. SpaceX conducted the launch from Florida, rather than Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, at the request of the PACE mission team, which wanted to be closer to its home at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.