Launch Forecast Shows 90-Percent ‘Go’ for ULA Atlas V Rocket Launch Saturday from Cape Canaveral

By  //  October 14, 2021

Launch is targeted for 5:34 a.m. ET

A ULA Atlas V rocket launch carrying NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is set for October 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (ULA Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – A ULA Atlas V rocket launch carrying NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is set for October 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Launch is targeted for 5:34 a.m. ET.

Launch forecast shows a 90-percent ‘go’ for launch.

NASA’s Lucy mission is the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. These small bodies are remnants of our early solar system, now trapped on stable orbits associated with – but not close to – the giant planet Jupiter.

The Trojan asteroids are in two “swarms” that lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun, and are almost as numerous as the objects in the Main Asteroid Belt. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids.

The Lucy mission is named after the fossilized skeleton of an early hominin (pre-human ancestor) that was found in Ethiopia in 1974 and named “Lucy” by the team of paleontologists who discovered it.

And just as the Lucy fossil provided unique insights into humanity’s evolution, the Lucy mission promises to revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the Solar System.

The Lucy mission is a joint mission of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center, the Southwest Research Institute and NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) based at Kennedy Space Center.

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