JPSS-2 and LOFTID Payload Fairing Mated to Rocket

A close-up view of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing containing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) as it is hoisted up by crane at the vertical integration facility at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Oct. 18, 2022.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing containing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) is hoisted up by crane at the vertical integration facility at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Oct. 18, 2022. Inside the fairing, JPSS-2 is stacked atop NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) secondary payload. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

Launch preparations continue at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for the launch of NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) and NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID).

Technicians recently mounted the payload fairing protecting the weather satellite and inflatable decelerator to the top of the Atlas V rocket on Oct. 18. Launch is slated for 2:25 a.m. PDT on Nov. 1 from Space Launch Complex 3.

JPSS-2 is the third weather satellite of the latest generation of NOAA’s polar-orbiting environmental satellites. LOFTID is a tech demonstration that is going along as a rideshare and will return to Earth in a re-entry test shortly after JPSS-2 enters orbit. Together, both payloads form an approximately 27-foot-tall superstack.

NASA’s Launch Services Program is managing the launch service, and JPSS-2 will be the program’s 23rd flight on an Atlas V.