The GOES-M spacecraft is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fleet of
weather satellites that keeps a constant watch on the Earth's ever-changing conditions.
The GOES. short for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites. provide early warning of
storms including tornadoes and hurricanes for people on earth.
They also collect information about the Earth so researchers can look for trends and patterns.
An Atlas IIA rocket successfully lifted the GOES-M spacecraft into orbit on July 23. 2001.
It was stored in a geosynchronous orbit until the spring of 2003 when it was put to work as GOES-East Satellite.
Since developing thruster problems. the spacecraft was moved in 2010 to a different orbit and it now watches South America.