VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Delta II rocket appears to erupt from the undulating clouds of smoke below as it launches with the joint NASA/French Space Agency oceanography satellite Jason 1 and Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite aboard. Liftoff from Launch Complex 2W occurred at 7:07 a.m. PST (10:07 a.m. EST or 15:07 GMT). Jason 1 joins the orbiting Topex/Poseidon satellite to continue observations of the global climate interaction occurring between the sea and the atmosphere as a result of stored solar energy. Instruments on Jason 1 will map variations in ocean surface topography to monitor world ocean circulation, study interactions of the oceans and atmosphere, improve climate predictions and observe events like El Nino. The mission is expected to last three years. The TIMED satellite will study a little-known region above the atmosphere, some 40 to 110 miles from the Earth's surface. Studying this region has been nearly impossible until now because conventional airplanes and balloons cannot reach this high altitude, and it is too low for direct satellite measurements KSC01pd1821