Posted: Sun, Jun 2, 2024, 10:18 AM ET (1418 GMT)
A Falcon 9 launched an Earth science satellite for Europe and Japan Tuesday. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 6:20 pm EDT (2220 GMT). and placed the EarthCARE satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit. EarthCARE was developed by ESA with contributions from the Japanese space agency JAXA to study clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The mission suffered lengthy delays in its development from technical issues as well as the pandemic. EarthCARE was planned to launch on a Soyuz but ESA shifted the mission first to a Vega C and then to Falcon 9.

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