Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Atlas V Landsat 9 Launch Highlights

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 mission for NASA lifted off on Sept. 27 at 11:12 a.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Launch of the Landsat 9 Earth-Observing Satellite (Official NASA Broadcast)

🚀 Watch the newest #Landsat satellite lift off! This joint NASA-U.S. Geological Survey mission will contribute to the longest data record of Earth’s landscapes taken from space. Landsat 9 continues th...

Landsat 9

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Earth Science

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Space Launch Complex 3E Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA Probability: 90%

Landsat 9 is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to continue the Landsat program's critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the land resources needed to sustain human life. Landsat 9, like Landsat 8, has a higher imaging capacity than past Landsats, allowing more valuable data to be added to the Landsat global land archive. Its operational orbit is a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km for a mission lifetime of at least 5 years.

Updates

Nosu • Sept. 27, 2021, 7:59 p.m.

Successful launch of Landsat 9.


Cosmic_Penguin • Sept. 27, 2021, 10:17 a.m.

New launch time.


Nosu • Sept. 17, 2021, 6:37 a.m.

Launch time confirmed by ULA



Nosu • Aug. 28, 2021, 9:30 a.m.

Delayed by a week due to liquid oxygen shortage.


Atlas V 401

Family:
Configuration: 401

An Atlas V with a 4 meter diameter fairing, no boosters and a single centaur upper stage engine.

See Details
Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    58.3 m
  • Diameter
    3.8 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    4.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    590.0 T
  • Thrust
    3827.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Atlas V 401
  • Family
    ―
  • Variant
    401
  • Alias
    ―
  • Full Name
    Atlas V 401
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $115000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    9050.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    4950.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
    ―
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    6670.0 kg

United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance

(ULA)

Interim CEO: John Elbon Founded: 2006 Successes: 170 Failures: 0 Pending: 41

Agency Type:

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.

INFO WIKI

Related News

NASA

Landsat 9 Sees Buccaneer Archipelago

The Operational Land Imager on Landsat 9 captured this image of Buccaneer Archipelago on June 11, 2025. The scene encapsulates the striking interactions between land and water in the area where King Sound opens to the Indian Ocean. The pow…

NASA

NASA Transfers Landsat 9 Satellite to USGS to Monitor Earth’s Changes

NASA transferred ownership and operational control on Thursday of the Landsat 9 satellite to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in a ceremony in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Spaceflight Now

Landsat 9 declared operational, IXPE returns first science imagery

Two NASA satellites launched late last year are operational and returning imagery — one looking back at planet Earth and another peering into the cosmos in search of new insights into the remnants of dead stars.

NASA

NASA, USGS Release First Landsat 9 Images

Landsat 9, a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that launched Sept. 27, 2021, has collected its first light images of Earth.

Secondary payloads launched with Landsat begin commissioning

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Space Launch Complex 3E


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 10 hours ago
CSG-3
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

CSG-3 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operatin…


Long March 7A
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Shijian 29 A-B
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

2 satellites officially described as for "demonstration of new technologies for spatial targets detection" purposes.


Long March 4B
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Tianhui 7
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A satellite officially described as for cartography purposes, details TBD.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
AIST-2T 01 & 02
Cosmodrome Site 1S - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

A pair of Russian optical Earth observation satellites built by the Progress Rocket Space Centre for obtaining stereo images of the Earth's surface, …


Long March 3B/E
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Fengyun-4C
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

China's geostationary meteorological satellite program FY-4 (Feng Yun 4) is the second generation of chinese geostationary meteorological satellites.


Long March 8A
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
SatNet LEO Group 17
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
Obzor-R No.1
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Assignment of payloads to this launch is uncertain. The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite desi…


LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III)
Success
2 weeks, 1 day ago
BlueBird Block 2 #1
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Long March 12A
Success
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Demo Flight
Long March 12A Pad - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First test launch of CASC/SAST’s Long March 12A rocket, with a dummy payload. The rocket’s 1st stage attempted to land on a landing pad about 300 km …


HANBIT-Nano
Failure
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Spaceward
HANBIT Pad - Alcântara Space Center, Federative Republic of Brazil

Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean start-up Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small sa…