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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- On Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers maneuver the solid rocket motor, or SRM, next to the Delta II first stage inside the mobile service tower. The Delta II is the launch vehicle for the OSTM_Jason-2 spacecraft. The OSTM, or Ocean Topography Mission, on the Jason-2 satellite is a follow-on to Jason-1. It will take oceanographic studies of sea surface height into an operational mode for continued climate forecasting research and science and industrial applications. This satellite altimetry data will help determine ocean circulation, climate change and sea-level rise. OSTM is a joint effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales and the European Meteorological Satellite Organisation. OSTM_Jason-2 will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7320 from Vandenberg on June 15. Photo credit: NASA_Dan Liberotti