NASA launches new mission to monitor Earth's landscape

·         The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully launched "Landsat 9" which is a powerful satellite designed to monitor the Earth's land surface.

·         Landsat 9 is a joint mission of NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS).

·         The satellite was launched by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 3E in Vandenberg.

·         ‘Landsat 9’ is performing well and will eventually establish itself in its final orbit that will take it to the planet's poles at an altitude of about 438 miles (705 kilometers).

·         The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972.

Important facts

About NASA

v  NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

v  Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States

v  Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower

v  Founded: 29 July 1958

v  First artificial satellite: Sputnik 1