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U.S. Postpones Launch of First Mission to Explore Metal-Rich Asteroid

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off carrying a NASA spacecraft to investigate the Psyche asteroid from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., October 13, 2023. This is the first spacecraft to explore a metal-rich asteroid, which may be the leftover core of a protoplanet that began forming in the early solar system more than 4 billion years ago. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX have postponed the launch of the agency’s Psyche mission originally planned on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Psyche mission is the U.S. first-ever mission to study a metal-rich asteroid. It aims to help scientists learn more about the formation of rocky bodies in our solar system, according to NASA.

The new launch time is set for 10:19 a.m. Eastern Time Friday, Oct. 13, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Psyche spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles to a metal-rich asteroid in the far reaches of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.”

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