NASA’s Lucy Satellite Leaves AstroTech Clean Room & Is Transported To Launch Complex 41 by ULA!

NASA’s Lucy satellite has made her way in the early morning hours today 10-7-21 from the Lockheed Martin AstroTech Clean Room in Titusville Florida to the United Launch Alliance SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral for integration with the Atlas V booster & Centaur upper stage.

The once in a lifetime journey to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid swarms takes another step closer to launching in a 23 day window starting on October 16th 2021 slated for 5:34 AM to 6:49 AM EDT or 9:34 UTC. The journey into deep space and seven Trojan asteroids will take 12 years to complete the mission parameters plus an eighth encounter with another asteroid between Mars & Jupiter.

Protected in her ULA four meter payload fairing and escorted by numerous support vehicles Lucy’s Odyssey is getting closer at hand.

Wishing Southwest Research Institute, NASA, Lockheed Martin and the ULA teams much success and a historic journey! The first to explore the ancient Trojan asteroids!

Stay tuned for pad roll out photos and remote launch photos by spacenews.lu for next weeks misssion to remants of our solar system orbiting around Jupiter in two different Trojan asteroid swarms.

Article & Photos by Scott Schilke for spacenews.lu and space-news.es