Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Family Photo Op

European Space Agency’s Copernicus Space Segment Programme Manager Guido Levrini, left, greets Dr. Michael Freilich’s wife, Shoshannah, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Nov. 20, 2020, the day before the spacecraft’s planned launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Seen in the background between them is Freilich’s son, Daniel, and to his right is Freilich’s daughter, Sarah. Michael Freilich, for whom the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is named, served as director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s Headquarters from 2006 until his retirement in 2019. A tireless advocate for advancing satellite measurements of the ocean, he was instrumental in advancing ocean altimetry and helped drive the evolution of NASA Earth science from a program that launched an Earth-observing space mission every few years to one that launches several missions each year. Freilich died Aug. 5, 2020, of pancreatic cancer. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.

European Space Agency’s Copernicus Space Segment Programme Manager Guido Levrini, left, greets Dr. Michael Freilich’s wife, Shoshannah, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Nov. 20, 2020, the day before the spacecraft’s planned launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Seen in the background between them is Freilich’s son, Daniel, and to his right is Freilich’s daughter, Sarah. Michael Freilich, for whom the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is named, served as director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s Headquarters from 2006 until his retirement in 2019. A tireless advocate for advancing satellite measurements of the ocean, he was instrumental in advancing ocean altimetry and helped drive the evolution of NASA Earth science from a program that launched an Earth-observing space mission every few years to one that launches several missions each year. Freilich died Aug. 5, 2020, of pancreatic cancer. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.

Photographer NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Location VAFB
30th Space WingAirbusAirbus Defence SpaceCaliforniaESAEUMETSATEarthEuropean Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological SatEuropean Space AgencyFalcon 9JPLLSPLaunchMichael FreilichNASA s Jet Propulsion LaboratoryNASA s Launch Services ProgramNOAANational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationRangeSentinel-6Sentinel-6 Michael FreilichSpaceXVAFBVandenberg Air Force BaseWestern Rangeoceanoceanographysatellitescienceseasea level