Europa Clipper (Falcon Heavy) October 14, 2024

Created 16-Oct-24

Modified 16-Oct-24

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On Monday, October 14 at 12:06 p.m. ET Falcon Heavy launched NASA’s Europa Clipper mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This was the sixth and final flight for the first stage boosters supporting this mission, which previously launched NASA’s Psyche one year ago and other missions USSF-44, USSF-52, USSF-67, Hughes JUPITER 3.

Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission with solar arrays spanning more than 100 feet (~30 meters) when deployed and weighing nearly 13,000 pounds (6,000 kilograms) at launch. Powered by 24 engines, Europa Clipper will make nearly 50 flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, surveying for conditions suitable to support life. Scientists predict a salty ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy surface which has more water than Earth’s oceans combined. It will take five years to reach Europa, with an anticipated arrival in 2030.

Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 side boosters were expended in the Atlantic Ocean.

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