"NASA's Falcon 9 Launches Billion-Dollar Climate Mission to Study Earth's Oceans and Atmosphere"

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched NASA's PACE Earth science spacecraft into orbit, marking the first U.S. government mission to launch to a polar or sun-synchronous orbit from Florida since 1960. The PACE mission, with a total cost of $964 million, aims to study ocean color, clouds, and aerosols in the atmosphere and is designed to last three years, with potential for a decade of operation. The launch was delayed by high winds but ultimately successful, with the booster landing back at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 1.