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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Loaded on a transporter, the payload faring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM spacecraft leaves the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and heads toward the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-3E. There it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. LDCM is the eighth satellite in the Landsat Program series of Earth-observing missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. LDCM will continue the program’s critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the resources needed for human sustainment such as food, water and forests. Photo credit: NASA_VAFB