GOES-S Separates from Atlas V Centaur Upper Stage

A camera on the Centaur upper stage captured the moment of separation as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s, or NOAA’s, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S, spacecraft enters Earth orbit. Spacecraft separation occurred at 8:34 p.m. GOES-S mission managers confirmed the spacecraft’s solar arrays successfully deployed at 8:58 p.m. and the spacecraft is operating on its own power. GOES-S is the second satellite in a series of next-generation NOAA weather satellites. It will launch to a geostationary position over the U.S. providing images of storms and help predict weather forecasts, severe weather outlooks, watches, warnings, lightning conditions and longer-term forecasting.