United Launch Alliance to Launch Landsat 9 Mission

ULA and heritage vehicle have launched critical Earth science capabilities since 1972

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Sep 25, 2021, 14:40 ET

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 88^th launch of the Atlas V rocket and 20^th mission launched on an Atlas V in partnership with NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP). This launch is the 300^th 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).

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SOURCE United Launch Alliance (ULA)