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Second Stage Fueling Underway for Sentinel-6B Launch

Image shows a white Space X rocket with NASA's Sentinel-6B atop the rocket in California. Photo credit: NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the international Sentinel-6B spacecraft atop stands vertical ahead of launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans. NASA is targeting launch no earlier than 9:21 p.m. PST.
NASA

Fueling is underway for the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Sentinel-6B, part of a joint mission led by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the European Commission and technical support from the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), at Space Launch Complex 4 East from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Atop the second stage is the payload fairing, a 17-foot-wide carbon composite shell protecting Sentinel-6B during launch. Less three minutes into flight, the fairing will separate from the rocket and return to Earth, allowing SpaceX to reuse for a future launch.

Engine chill will begin shortly on the Falcon 9, followed by final prelaunch checks by the flight computer, pressurization of the propellant tank, and the highly anticipated go/no-go poll for launch from NASA and SpaceX launch directors.

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