With hardware in the foreground, technicians use a crane to lift the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) Observatory onto a work stand on Friday, July 25, 2025, during prelaunch processing at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SWFO-L1 mission will observe solar eruptions, and monitor incoming space weather 24/7, providing early warnings and validating forecasts that protect vital communication and navigation infrastructure, economic interests, and national security, both on Earth and in space. The observatory will launch as a rideshare with NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) no earlier than September 2025.