Jason 3 pre-launch news conference

Spectacular views from a NOAA space weather observatory show the sunlit far side of the moon crossing the face of the Earth from a distant vantage point a million miles away.

The NROL-105 mission is the first of about a dozen missions planned for 2026 that support the NRO’s so-called proliferated architecture satellite constellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:39:51 p.m. PST (11:39:51 p.m. EST / 0439:51 UTC).

Five satellites made in Britain to track the expansion of Chinese cities and demonstrate a new sail design to clean up space junk blasted off Friday on top of an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.