[Launch Alert] Delta II Launch Success

[Launch Alert]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
From: 30th Space Wing Public Affairs, www.vandenberg.af.mil

Delta II Launch Success

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -A NASA satellite on a United Launch
Alliance rocket was launched from Space Launch Complex-2 here Wednesday,
July 2, at 2:56 a.m. PDT.

Col. Keith Balts, 30th Space Wing commander, was the launch decision
authority.

The Delta II rocket carried NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2; the second
of NASA's five Earth science missions to launch in 2014.

OCO-2 is NASA's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon
dioxide, the leading human- produced greenhouse gas driving changes in
Earth's climate. OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding the human
and natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural "sinks" that
absorb carbon dioxide and help control its buildup. The observatory will
measure the global geographic distribution of these sources and sinks and
study their changes over time.