Liftoff! Atlas V Clears the Launch Pad with NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft
A United Launch Alliance V 401 rocket, with NASA’s Lucy spacecraft atop, powers off the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida at 5:34 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. The launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center. Lucy will embark on a 12-year primary mission to explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, including the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Named after a fossilized human ancestor whose skeleton provided discoverers insight into humanity’s evolution, the Lucy mission will do much of the same, providing scientists and researchers a look into the origins of our solar system. Photo credit: NASA
We have booster ignition and liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 5:34 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying NASA’s Lucy spacecraft! The rocket is on its way, carrying the spacecraft to begin its voyage to explore the Trojan asteroids.
About four minutes into flight, a series of key events will occur in rapid succession: Atlas booster engine cutoff, separation of the booster from the Centaur upper stage, ignition of the Centaur main engine for its first of two burns, then jettison of the payload fairing.
