Video: Preparing Delta 2 and SMAP for flight

The United Launch Alliance Delta 2 was launched Saturday at 6:22 a.m. local time with NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

From weather forecasting to agricultural benefits, a new NASA mission launching this week will provide unprecedented resolution, accuracy and coverage of soil moisture on a world-wide basis every three days for the next three years.

A Delta 2 rocket has lifted off from California’s Central Coast on Saturday with a NASA environmental satellite designed to improve flood and drought forecasts, map moisture in Earth’s soils, and track the planet’s water cycle.