Erasing painful memories of a failed launch five years ago, a Kennedy Space Center-led team on Wednesday delivered a NASA science satellite to orbit from California to begin its study of climate change.
A rocket mishap in 2009 doomed the original Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission, devastating its scientists and KSC's Launch Services Program, which manages launches of NASA science payloads.
But within an hour after a Delta II rocket's liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:56 a.m. EDT Wednesday, a camera showed the replacement Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 spacecraft float safely away from the rocket toward a bright sun, about 430 miles up.
'Now we're celebrating,' said Tim Dunn, the launch director from KSC. 'There was pure joy in the mission director's center at spacecraft (separation), I can tell you that.'
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'It's very difficult to put this in words,' added Ralph Basilio, the project manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Basilio said scientists were eager to tackle the $468 million mission's 'unfinished business' of precisely measuring levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is the leading human contributor to climate change.
Over at least two years, the polar-orbiting spacecraft will study the sources of the 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year, and how forests and oceans act as natural 'sinks' that have absorbed roughly half of that.
Understanding seasonal and annual variations in that carbon cycle - described as the Earth breathing - will improve long-term climate change forecasts and help policymakers respond to a warming planet.
'Seldom do we get a second chance to be able to do a mission like this,' said Geoff Yoder of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 'This mission will help humankind.'
The successful launch marked the return to flight of United Launch Alliance's Delta II rocket after nearly three years off.
NASA chose it for the do-over mission after the 2009 failure by Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus XL rocket, which also lost the agency's Glory science mission in 2011. In both cases, the rocket's payload fairing did not separate.
ULA had discontinued production of the workhorse Delta II, but had parts available for five more rockets. NASA has bought four of those, with the second expected to launch from Vandenberg in November.
Dunn said the rocket 'performed like a champ' Wednesday.
While Orbital Sciences provided the ill-fated rocket in 2009, it also built the spacecraft for both missions.
Mike Miller, senior vice president for the company's science and environmental satellite program, said the loss of the first mission was 'very much like losing a close family friend or member.'
'So we're very happy to see this new day,' he said after Wednesday's pre-dawn flight, 'this still dark morning, but bright for all of us.'
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.
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Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 6 1 Name: KSC Count: 3 2 Name: Delta Count: 2 3 Name: Bernie Badger Count: 1 4 Name: Ralph Basilio Count: 1 5 Name: Basilio Count: 1 6 Name: Science Mission Directorate Count: 1 7 Name: Mike Miller Count: 1 8 Name: Geoff Yoder Count: 1 9 Name: Orbital Sciences Corp. Count: 1 10 Name: Dunn Count: 1 11 Name: Vandenberg Count: 1 12 Name: humankind Count: 1 13 Name: United Launch Alliance Count: 1 14 Name: California Count: 1 15 Name: Orbital Sciences Count: 1 16 Name: ULA Count: 1 17 Name: Launch Services Program Count: 1 18 Name: Washington Count: 1 19 Name: Tim Dunn Count: 1 20 Name: Earth Count: 1 21 Name: Vandenberg Air Force Base Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1rfsSDB Title: NASA Launches Carbon Satellite After 2009 Failure Description: A rocket carrying a NASA satellite lit up the pre-dawn skies Wednesday on a mission to track atmospheric carbon dioxide, the chief culprit behind global warming. The Delta 2 rocket blasted off from California at 2:56 a.m. and released the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite in low-Earth...
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