On December 18. 1999. NASA launched the EOS "flagship" EOS Terra from
Vandenberg Air Force Base. California. Riding atop a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS
rocket. Terra began its mission to collect a 15-year global data set to base future
scientific investigations about our complex home planet.
Together with the entire fleet of EOS spacecraft. Terra is helping scientists unravel
the mysteries of climate and environmental change.
Terra is part of the AM "Morning" Constellation an international constellation
devoted to Earth observation.
Roughly the size of a small school bus. the EOS Terra spacecraft carries a payload
of five state-of-the-art sensors that study the interactions among the Earth's
atmosphere. lands. oceans. and radiant energy heat and light.
In service for more than a dozen years now. Terra continues to capture spectacular
images of natural. and human-made. events that impact our world.