ULA Delta II launches with SMAP

United Launch Alliance (ULA) has conducted a rare Delta II launch on Saturday morning, at 6:22 am local, following a scrub on Thursday, along with a debonding of insulation on the booster, suffered during the subsequent detanking . The venerable rocket is now en route to orbiting the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite for NASA. Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, is a NASA mission to produce a global map of the moisture content in the Earth’s soil. During its planned three-year mission the spacecraft will take repeated measurements of the Earth’s surface as it orbits the planet, allowing scientists to study the distribution of water in soil around the world and its role in the water cycle. More

(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 31)