DSCOVR space weather sentinel reaches finish line

[bananas]

1. DSCOVR was the first satellite SpaceX ever launched beyond Earth orbit.

http://spacenews.com/noaa-space-weather-satellite-reaches-orbit/

NOAA Space Weather Satellite Reaches Operational Orbit
by Dan Leone — June 8, 2015

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DSCOVR will eventually replace NASA’s 18 year-old Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) as the primary U.S. space-weather satellite, NOAA said in its press release. ACE was launched in 1997 on what was supposed to be a five-year mission.

Some notable DSCOVR facts:

• DSCOVR was the first satellite SpaceX ever launched beyond Earth orbit. After three false starts, the company’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted the spacecraft to escape velocity Feb. 11.

• DSCOVR was not designed as a NOAA space-weather satellite. Proposed in 1998 by then Vice President Al Gore, DSCOVR began life as a NASA Earth-observation satellite called Triana. Launch was pencilled in for 2003 aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia. DSCOVR’s launch was put on hold in 2001 and the spacecraft spent more than 10 years in a NASA hangar before finally launching. Some people still jokingly call the satellite “Goresat.”