Launch vehicles will be Falcon 9 rockets from SpaceX lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and Kosmotras DNEPR rockets lifting off from Yasny, Russia.
The Landsat satellite was boosted into orbit by an Atlas V rocket shortly before 11:30 a.m. local time, more than an hour after lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base under mostly clear skies.
The reward Iraq now has been encouraged to expect is the lifting of the oil export embargo, which was meant to force Iraq not only to give access to U.N. inspectors but also to comply with other important provisions of the cease-fire agreement that ended the Gulf War.