Photos: SMAP joins Delta 2 rocket

NASA, United Launch Alliance and Air Force officials hold the pre-launch news conference for the Delta 2 rocket with the agency’s SMAP environmental satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Jan. 27.

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite blasts off aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket Saturday, launching into orbit on a three-year mission to measure moisture levels in Earth’s soils.

Narrated flow tapes of the United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket and NASA’s SMAP spacecraft for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.