Relive SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch of Psyche asteroid mission … – Space.com

SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy mission for NASA did not disappoint.

The Falcon Heavy the second-most powerful rocket currently in operation, after NASA's Space Launch System launched the agency's Psyche asteroid mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning (Oct. 13).

It was the eighth liftoff overall for the Heavy and its fourth already in 2023. But the sight of the triple-core rocket climbing into the sky and coming back down to Earth was still a dazzling one, as the photos below make clear.

Related:NASA's Psyche asteroid probe on track for October launch after 1-year delay

Psyche now has a long road ahead of it. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at its namesake, a 173-mile-wide (280 kilometers) metallic object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, in 2029.

The probe will then study the asteroid Psyche up close for about two years. Scientists think the space rock may be the exposed core of an ancient planetary building block, so the mission's observations could shed considerable light on our solar system's early days, the formation of planets and the characteristics of Earth's core.

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Relive SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch of Psyche asteroid mission ... - Space.com