The Landsat satellite was boosted into orbit by an Atlas V
rocket shortly before 11:30 a.m. local time, more than an hour
after lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base under mostly
clear skies. Mission controllers tracked the rocket’s path as it
streaked in a southwesterly direction over the Pacific and
climbed into space. Cheers erupted in the control room when
controllers received word of spacecraft separation. “Give
yourselves a pat on the back, shake each other’s hand, hug each
other, cry a little bit and then go celebrate,” said NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., who tracked the launch from
mission control. The $855 million mission continues a four-
decade legacy of keeping a continuous eye on Earth’s glaciers,
forests and shorelines from space. Since the first Landsat
launch in 1972, the satellites have been key witnesses to
history, documenting the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption and the
1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Through the decades, the
Landsat satellites have monitored drought conditions,