A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying the Jason-3 spacecraft. Liftoff was at 10:42 a.m. PST (1:42 p.m. EST). Jason-3 is a four-agency international partnership consisting of NOAA, NASA, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales -- France’s space agency -- and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. Thales Alenia of France built the spacecraft.