NOAA's GOES-S weather satellite, slated for 2018 launch, arrives at KSC
Emre KellyA next-generation weather satellite slated for a 2018 liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station arrived at Kennedy Space Center this week, according to NASA.
The next Lockheed Martin-built Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S, arrived on the Space Coast Monday evening when an Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy touched down at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility.
GOES-S, designed to bolster forecasting and monitoring capabilities, will be operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after it launches from Cape Canaveral in March on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket set to its most powerful configuration.
[Air Force: Weather good for SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral and landing]
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A rocket from the same Atlas V family launched its $1 billion forerunner in 2016, also known as GOES-R, and was designated GOES-16 after coming online. GOES-S will follow the same pattern and become GOES-17 after achieving the intended orbit and completing tests.
Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.
When's the next launch? Tuesday.
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
- Mission: ISS resupply for NASA
- Launch Time: 11:46 a.m.
- Launch Window: Instantaneous
- Launch Complex: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
- Weather: 80 percent "go"
Join FloridaToday.com/Space at 10 a.m. Tuesday for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of NASA's launch webcast.
