Joint Polar Satellite System and Inflatable Decelerator Successfully Deployed
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying equipment for the NOAA and NASA test gear launched from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base on November 10. The launch took up the NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System or JPSS-2. The weather analysis satellite has already entered its initial operational mode and extended its solar arrays, beginning normal activity.