spacetoday.net: Falcon Heavy launches NASA Psyche mission

Posted: Sun, Oct 15, 2023, 10:48 AM ET (1448 GMT)
Falcon Heavy launch of Psyche (NASA)

A Falcon Heavy successfully launched NASA's Psyche mission to the metallic asteroid of the same name Friday. The Falcon Heavy lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 10:19 am EDT (1419 GMT) and deployed the Psyche spacecraft 62 minutes later. The launch was delayed a week to test new parameters for thrusters on the spacecraft and an additional day because of poor weather. Psyche will arrive at the asteroid in August 2029, orbiting it for more than two years to study its composition and structure to determine how it formed. The launch was the eighth for the Falcon Heavy but the first for NASA, with agency planning to use that rocket for several other missions in the next few years.