NASA's Psyche Mission: Countdown to Launch

NASA's Psyche spacecraft is in its final preparations at Cape Canaveral for its scheduled launch on October 5. Engineers and technicians are working diligently to ensure the spacecraft is ready for its journey to a metal-rich asteroid, which may provide insights into planetary cores and planet formation. The team recently completed testing of the flight software and is now focused on the mechanical closeout of the spacecraft. The spacecraft will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy and use solar electric propulsion for its six-year journey to the asteroid Psyche. Once there, it will spend at least 26 months orbiting the asteroid, collecting data about its composition and history.