Good morning, and welcome to live launch coverage from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida of the mission to Psyche, a metal-rich world! Psyche is the first mission to explore an asteroid with a surface that likely contains substantial amounts of metal rather than rock or ice.
This also will be NASA’s Launch Services Program’s first primary science mission launching on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Integrated on the Psyche spacecraft is NASA’s technology demonstration DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications). Teams are on console and will soon begin to fuel the rocket at Launch Complex 39A, in preparation for the 10:19 a.m. EDT launch time. Today’s launch attempt is an instantaneous launch window. Psyche has launch opportunities through Oct. 25.
Today’s launch blog comes to you from the NASA News Center here at Kennedy. You can watch live launch coverage without commentary beginning at 9:15 a.m. EDT on the NASA Television media channel. The live launch broadcast with commentary will begin at 9:30 a.m. on the NASA Television public channel and NASA UHD channel, as well as YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, Daily Motion, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. You also can continue following along right here on the blog as we take you through the entire flight profile for the Psyche mission.
Join the conversation, follow the launch, and get Psyche mission updates from these accounts:
X: @NASA, @NASAJPL, @NASA_LSP, @NASASolarSystem, @NASA_Technology, @NASASCaN, @NASAKennedy, @NASA
Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, NASAJPL, NASASolarSystem, NASATechnology, NASASCaN
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAJPL, @nasasolarsystem