Nasa launches Lucy mission to study ‘solar system’s evolution’; to fly by 8 ancient asteroids

Lucy embarked on a 12-year-long mission to fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojan asteroids. It will study the asteroids to find out about "our solar system’s evolution".

Nasa’s Lucy, the agency’s first mission that will fly by a total of eight ancient asteroids to study about "solar system’s evolution", was launched on Saturday. Lucy is Nasa’s “first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids”. Our #LucyMission launched to explore the Trojan asteroids, which are like ancient time capsules from our early solar system. Plus, @NASA_Orion's stage adapter was added to our @NASA_SLS rocket for the #Artemis I launch. More stories this week at NASA: https://t.co/MclRPuo0wz pic.twitter.com/667KKSaqco

Lucy, which embarked on a 12-year-long mission to fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojan asteroids, was launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket at 5:34 am local time (9.34 am GMT, 3.04 pm IST) from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.