CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Lucy mission is on its way into space Saturday morning.
The Lucy spacecraft blasted off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket early Saturday.
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The Atlas V took off at 5:34 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The mission will study the Trojan Asteroids around Jupiter and is expected to last 12 years.
Lucy will fly by seven of the Trojan Asteroids and one in the solar system’s main asteroid belt.
NASA said no other space craft have attempted this many destinations before.
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The spacecraft was named after one of the most well-known human ancestor fossils.
The research gained from this mission is expected to help scientists learn more about planetary origins and how our solar system formed.
University of Central Florida physicist and geologist Dan Britt is playing a key role in making sure that happens.
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For his fourth NASA mission the rock expert will plan observations and analyze the data the spacecraft gathers.
“I lead the interior of both working groups which is mostly people trying to decide what these things are made of and how they’re structured in the measurements we do as they fly by,” Britt said.
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The total cost of the mission is estimated to be more than $980 dollars.
The mission is expected to last 12 years and return to Earth in March 2033.
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