At ESA’s ESOC mission control, in Darmstadt, Germany, every launch is preceded by a pre-launch briefing – and the all-important group photo. This is the team that will fly EarthCARE – ESA’s newest and most complex Earth Explorer dedicated to improving our understanding of our planet and the impact that human activity has on it.

The team recently completed another crucial step in the run up to the launch of EarthCARE: the dress rehearsal. After months of preparations and simulations, the dress rehearsal brought together the ESA teams at mission control with the mission’s industrial partners and the team from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Together, they completed a final, meticulous run through of the 'network countdown' – the sequence of events that will take place on launch day.

Rehearsal and briefing complete, mission control is now GO for launch.

EarthCARE is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 at 00:20 CEST, 29 May.

After launch, ESA mission control will guide EarthCARE into a polar orbit at an altitude of 393 km. From here, equipped with four state-of-the-art instruments, EarthCARE will make different types of measurements that together will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s delicate temperature balance.

Follow @esa, @esaoperations and @esa_eo on X and @europeanspaceagency @ESA_Earth on Instagram for live updates on the EarthCARE launch. Click here to find out how to watch the launch live.