NASA has awarded a US$153.8 million contract for the launch of the Earth resources spacecraft Landsat 9 to the United Launch Alliance (ULA). The launch which will take place from Vandenberg, California, will use an Atlas V 401 rocket. The launch to a near polar sun-synchronous low Earth orbit is set to take place in June 2021. However, the flight may occur sooner as ULA has noted to NASA that it will be ready to launch the spacecraft in December 2020 or afterwards.
