(07/23/2001) -- With a burst of light followed by rolling steam clouds, the Atlas II rocket carrying the GOES-M satellite roars into the black sky. Liftoff occurred at 3:23:01EDT. EDT from Launch Complex 36-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. GOES-M is the last in the current series of advanced geostationary weather satellites in service. GOES-M has a new instrument not on earlier spacecraft, a Solar X-ray Imager, which can be used in forecasting space weather and the effects of solar storms