Last Updated Jan 31, 2015 12:33 PM EST

A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket boosted an innovative NASA satellite into orbit Saturday, kicking off a three-year, $916 million mission to measure the moisture, frozen and liquid, in the top few inches of Earth's soil to improve forecasting, to better understand the causes and impact of droughts, floods and other natural disasters and to improve long-range climate change projections.

"With the launch of this project, decision makers will be better able to understand the water cycle and how soil moisture fits into that," said Christine Bonniksen, NASA program executive of the Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, mission. "The soil actually gathers the precipitation prior to it entering the rivers and then evaporating back into the atmosphere. As a result, soil moisture impacts many areas of human interest, including flood, drought, disease control and weather."

Running two days late because of high winds aloft Thursday, the long-awaited mission got underway at 9:22 a.m. EST (GMT-5, 6:22 a.m. local time) when the 165-ton Delta 2 booster's first stage engine roared to life, followed by ignition of three strap-on solid fuel boosters.

Lighting up the pre-dawn sky with a torrent of flame, the 127-foot-tall rocket quickly climbed away from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, arcing away to the south over the Pacific Ocean west of Los Angeles.

The strap-on boosters burned out 65 seconds after liftoff and were jettisoned 35 seconds later. The Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A first-stage engine continued to burn another two-and-a-half minutes before shutting down as planned. The first stage then fell away and the second stage's AJ10-118K engine ignited, continuing the boost to orbit.

Ten minutes and 44 seconds after launch, the second stage engine shut down and the booster entered a 41-minute coast phase. Finally, about 55 minutes after takeoff, the second stage engine re-ignited for 12 seconds to put the spacecraft in the desired 426-mile-high orbit around Earth's poles.

The SMAP satellite's solar panels unfolded moments after release from the Delta 2 booster's second stage, clearly visible in this view from a camera on the rocket.

NASA TV

Originally posted here:

NASA launches satellite to measure soil moisture