GOES-O (GOES-14) launched!
GOES-12 visible images
The GOES-O satellite was launched at 22:51 UTC on 27 June 2009 from Cape Canaveral, Florida (station identifier XMR). GOES-12 visible images (above) showed a portion of the rocket plume on the 23:02 UTC image (some ground-based photos of the launch are available here).
This satellite will become GOES-14 after the hand-off from NASA to NOAA, and will then undergo a Post Launch Test (PLT) during the July-December 2009 period — the first GOES-14 visible images should be made available on 27 July, with the first InfraRed images available in mid-August. CIMSS has calculated the weighting functions for the GOES-14 imager and sounder channels as well as the spectral response functions and Planck function constants for GOES-O…and CIMSS will also contribute to the NOAA Science Test portion of the PLT in November/December 2009.