NASA successfully launches GOES-U weather satellite on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy

June 25 (UPI) -- The final GOES-U satellite successfully launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral in Florida to aid efforts to track and forecast weather amid changing climate conditions across the globe.

Launch time was at 5:26 p.m. EDT with 2.8 million pounds of propellent fueling all 27 Merlin engines at 5.1 million pounds of thrust.

The mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the 10th-ever liftoff by SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket.

It was supersonic at 5:28 p.m., traveling faster than the speed of sound. A launch dispatcher said things at the time were "performing well."

A booster separation was confirmed at 5:29 p.m. The two side boosters then return to Cape Canaveral and guided themselves as expected at landing zones one and two.

It was called a "picture perfect" launched by a NASA official before 6 p.m. EDT.

NASA and SpaceX were, weather pending, set to launch the GOES-U weather satellite during a two-hour launch window opening originally slated for possibly 5:16 p.m. EDT about 10 minutes before the liftoff took place.

It was the final satellite of the GOES-U series of satellites put into orbit. The information gathered by the satellites will be used for real-time weather predictions, such as severe hurricane weather.

A NASA official on Tuesday during live launch commentary pointed to the devastating 2021 Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and how the satellite's high-resolution imagery was used to track and give forecasts.

Weather officials at Cape Canaveral gave favorable weather predictions, originally calling for a 30% change of favorable conditions for launch.

The spacecraft was placed into a so-called Geostationary Transfer Orbit before proceeding to its final orbital position in geostationary orbit.