After a string of delays, a Delta 2 rocket successfully soared from an oceanside launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday, ferrying to orbit the NASA Earth Observing 1 and Argentine Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas C satellites.

The Delta 2 lifted off Tuesday.

"We have lift off of the EO-1 and SAC-C satellites, testing new technologies for the future," said a launch commentator.

The dual payloads plus a Swedish nanosatellite successfully separated from the rocket at 60, 90 and 110 minutes following launch.

"They're healthy and looking good," U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Rebecca Bonilla said.

Tuesdays launch came after concerns over paperwork, computers and contamination conspired to force a series of delays stretching back to Saturday, pushing the date back each time.

The two satellites lofted as the main payloads should now complement the Landsat 7 and Terra spacecraft already in orbit, flying with them in close formation as they trail one another while zipping around the globe.

Indeed, from Landsat 7 to EO-1 to SAC-C and to Terra, any one member of the chain will be separated from the others by no more than 30 minutes, allowing all four to act in concert as a single virtual Earth-observing satellite.

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A majority of the instruments aim to unravel the powerful influences on Earth from the Sun, as well as study our planet's environment and ecology. SAC-C is the first deployable satellite launched by the Argentine Commission on Space Activities (CONAE).

Also tucked aboard the Delta 2, but receiving a much less impressive billing, is Munin, a Swedish nanosatellite.

The 13-pound (6-kilogram) satellite will collect data on the auroral activity in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, providing further data that can assist in the prediction of space weather.

The satellite, named for one of the Norse god Odin's ravens, was designed and built by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in cooperation with students at Sweden's Umea and Lelea universities.