WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

At Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, agency leaders held a science briefing to discuss the Jason-3 mission two days before the satellite’s scheduled liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4. Pictured is Sophie Coutin Faye, chief of the Altimetry and Precise Positioning Office of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, or CNES, France’s space agency.

Built by Thales Alenia of France, Jason-3 will measure the topography of the ocean surface for a four-agency international partnership consisting of NOAA, NASA, CNES, and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.