By Matt Smith, CNN

updated 7:21 PM EST, Mon February 11, 2013

An Atlas-V rocket carrying a Landsat satellite lifts off Monday at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- NASA put its newest Landsat satellite into orbit on Monday, extending a long-running program that has been beaming back dramatic images of Earth for more than 40 years.

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission -- to be designated Landsat 8, once it's up and running -- lifted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base atop an Atlas V booster.

The $855 million platform, about the size of a sport-utility vehicle, has been in the works for years amid concerns about maintaining the U.S. suite of geoscience satellites.

The first Landsat mission went into orbit in 1972; the last working mission, Landsat 7, was launched in 1999. It's still sending back images long after its five-year life expectancy, but suffers from a scanner problem that leaves black diagonal streaks across them.

Landsat 5 sent back its last images in January after nearly 29 years; it had been designed to last three.

The new mission's solar panels deployed successfully after Monday's launch, and the satellite should be fully operational after about three months of trials, NASA said.

Original post:

NASA cheers new Landsat launch