A Delta II rocket boosted the GLAST spacecraft into orbit during the first launch of an expendable launch vehicle in 2008.
THEMIS kicked-off the ELV launch year with a mid-February liftoff to study the Northern Lights.
This was a year of diverse scientific launches from a variety of launch vehicles -- delivering satellites into Earth's orbit and sending a spacecraft soaring through space to reach Pluto and beyond.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was NASA's first launch of an Atlas V on an interplanetary mission.
NASA's Launch Services Program hosted a year of successful Delta II launches supporting groundbreaking science and spacecraft.
This was an ambitious year for NASA with the liftoff of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity and a total of five Delta II and Pegasus XL launches.
The Tracking and Relay Satellite (TDRS) system is a cluster of communication satellites that are used to relay voice, video and data. Two TDRS satellites were launched this year.
Delivered into orbit around Mars, NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has sent a profusion of information to Earth about Martian geology, climate and mineralogy.
The IMAGE spacecraft was the first satellite mission dedicated to imaging the Earth's magnetosphere -- the region of space controlled by the Earth's magnetic field.
One of many important missions for 1999 was the flagship launch of TERRA into a sun-synchronous polar orbit, enabling scientists to study the interaction among the four features of the Earth system -- oceans, land, atmosphere and biosphere.