NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Arrives at Launchpad

Lucy emerges from ULA's Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.  Photo credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space
Lucy emerges from ULA's Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Photo credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space

Kennedy Space Center, FL. – This morning, October 14, 2021, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 emerged from the Vertical Integration Facility at Launch Complex 41 located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Atlas V made the slow roll to the launch pad bringing the Lucy spacecraft one step closer to launch. The launch is currently scheduled for October 16, 2021 at 5:34 AM EDT.

ULA Atlas V 401 and Lucy spacecraft arriving at the Space Launch Complex 41 launchpad . Photo Credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space

On September 29, 2021, Lucy was in final preparations at the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida before its transition to Vertical Integration Facility at Launch Complex 41.

Lucy, shortly before encapsulation at Astrotech. Photo Credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space

The Lucy spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, was named after the fossilized skeleton of an early hominid (pre-human) ancestor that was discovered on the continent of Africa in the nation of Ethiopia in 1974. The paleoanthropologists who made this incredible find named this discovery "Lucy."

Lucy's mission patch is displayed on the iconic Kennedy Space Center countdown screen. Photo Credit: Michael Howard / We Report Space

Lucy will be the first spacecraft to be traveling to the Trojan asteroids. These are small celestial remnants of our early solar system that are trapped in stable orbits that are clustered in two "swarms" that lead and follow Jupiter in it's orbit around the sun. The mission is planned to take 12 years and seeks to unlock the mysteries of our solar system, its formation and the origin of the planets.

Learn more about the Lucy mission from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lucy/overview/index

Follow the mission science with the Southwestern Research Institute: http://lucy.swri.edu 


Photos


Atlas V / NASA Lucy Asteroid Mission (Michael Howard)


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