Jason-3 Rocket and Countdown Only

With this mission, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will deliver the Jason-3 satellite to low-Earth orbit for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

The Jason-3 launch is targeted for a 18:42 UTC launch from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. If all goes as planned, the Jason-3 satellite will be deployed approximately an hour after launch.

This mission also marks an experimental landing of the first stage on the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions”. The landing of the first stage is a secondary test objective.