Before NOAA retired the spacecraft on Jan. 8, GOES-13 captured images of many major storms, including this image from Sept. 1, 2017, showing Tropical Storm Lidia and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationannounced plans Jan. 8 to retire its decade-old Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 13 to make way for its next generation: GOES 16 launched in 2016 and GOES-S scheduled to launch in March.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...