VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – At Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket springs to life. The liftoff will boost NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite, or SMAP, to orbit. Liftoff was at 9:22 a.m. EST. SMAP is designed to produce the highest-resolution maps of soil moisture ever obtained from space. To learn more about SMAP, visit http://www.nasa.gov/smap. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Location Vandenberg AFB, CA
Date January 31, 2015