"NASA SpaceX Falcon Heavy Payload Psyche Spacecraft & Fairings Begins The 21 Month Journey"
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"NASA SpaceX Falcon Heavy Payload Psyche Spacecraft & Fairings Begins The 21 Month Journey"
Purchase This Image Here
"NASA SpaceX Falcon Heavy Payload Psyche Spacecraft & Fairings Begins The 21 Month Journey"
"NASA SpaceX Falcon Heavy Payload Psyche Spacecraft & Fairings Begins The 21 Month Journey"
"NASA SpaceX Falcon Heavy Payload Psyche Spacecraft & Fairings Begins The 21 Month Journey"
Purchase This Image Here
"NASA SpaceX Falcon Heavy Payload Psyche Spacecraft & Fairings Begins The 21 Month Journey"
A 2.2 billion mile journey started at 3:30 AM as Psyche leaves the AstroTech clean room and is transported to the HIF at SpaceX LC-39A for integration with Falcon Heavy!
Once it arrives in 2029, the spacecraft will orbit the metal-rich asteroid for 26 months while it conducts its science investigation.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
The first-ever mission to study a metal-rich asteroid, Psyche aims to help scientists learn more about the formation of rocky bodies in our solar system.
With a launch readiness date set for Thursday, Oct. 12, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a metal-rich asteroid in the far reaches of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Trailing a blue glow from its thrusters and powered by a pair of massive solar arrays, the orbiter will use its payload of science instruments to learn more about the asteroid Psyche believed to be a rich metal planetary core.
For spacenewsfl.com photos and video by Scott Schilke
#NASA #Psyche #SpaceX #FalconHeavy #elonmusk #explore
