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NASA’s TRACERS Mission Launch Takes Flight 

Image shows rocket launch in California
NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission launches at 11:30 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission will study magnetic reconnection around Earth — a process in which electrically charged plasmas exchange energy in the atmosphere — to understand how the Sun’s solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere, Earth’s protective magnetic shield.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base California at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) today. 

Also launching on this flight will be three additional NASA-funded payloads: the Athena EPIC (Economical Payload Integration Cost) SmallSat, the PExT (Polylingual Experimental Terminal) technology demonstration, and the REAL (Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss) CubeSat. 

Key milestones up next include Max Q, or the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket, followed by first stage main engine cutoff, and first and second stage separation. In about an hour the payloads will begin to deploy from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage into orbit. 

Follow @NASAKennedy on X and Facebook for additional updates on the mission.