Spacecraft: Orbitin' Carbon Observatory Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, me bucko, Calif. Arrr! Blimey! Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 576-E Launch Date: Feb. 24, 2009 Launch Time: 1:55:30 am PST (4:55:30 am EST) Cost : $ 400 million Ignition and liftoff o' t' Taurus XL rocket carryin' NASA's Orbitin' Carbon Observatory (OCO), ya bilge rat, beginnin' a two-year mission t' study what no spacecraft ever has: t' sources and hidin' places o' atmospheric carbon dioxide. T' rocket's Stage 0 is burnin' as it propels t' vehicle away from Vandenberg Air Force Base and toward a near-polar, me bucko, sun-synchronous orbit where it will orbit Earth once every 99 minutes. A Taurus XL rocket is speedin' roughly southward near t' California coast t' begin t' Orbitin' Carbon Observatorys mission. T' solid-fueled rocket is leavin' a brilliant trail o' flames and smoke on its way into t' sky. Avast! Blimey! It will take 13 minutes for t' four-stage booster t' settle t' satellite into its precise orbit. Aye aye! Blimey! Then t' OCO spacecraft will unfurl its twin solar arrays t' begin powerin' its onboard systems. Begad! Blimey! Several minutes into t' flight o' t' Taurus rocket carryin' NASA's Orbitin' Carbon Observatory spacecraft, launch managers declared a contingency after t' payload fairin' failed t' separate.