The GOES-M satellite is lowered toward the Atlas rocket in the launch tower at Complex 36 A Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The GOES-M satellite is lowered toward the Atlas rocket in the launch tower at Complex 36-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. GOES-M is the last in the current series of advanced geostationary weather satellites in service. GOES-M has a new instrument not on earlier spacecraft, a Solar X-ray Imager, which can be used in forecasting space weather and the effects of solar storms. The satellite is scheduled to launch atop an Atlas rocket July 15