Three, two, one, and liftoff of the Atlas V and NOAA’s GOES-S, a highly sophisticated,
weather-watching eye-in-the-sky to join its twin in providing better forecasts and saving
lives.
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S, or GOES-S, launched at 5:02 p.m.
Eastern on March 1, 2018.
It was delivered to orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space
Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
GOES-S was renamed GOES-17 after reaching geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above the
Earth.
It is the second in the GOES-R Series of next-generation weather satellites that began with GOES-R,
now renamed GOES-16, and includes GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U.
Once GOES-17 is declared operational, expected in late 2018, it will reside in a geostationary
position over the Pacific Ocean to provide faster, more accurate data for tracking wildfires,
tropical cyclones, fog and other storm systems and hazards that threaten the western United
States.
It will also improve weather forecasts for Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Central America and
the Pacific Ocean, all the way to New Zealand.