The Atlas 5 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after a brief delay caused by a helium leak
A $1.1bn (£0.7bn) unmanned Nasa space mission has launched from Florida on a journey to the planet Jupiter.
The Juno spacecraft will cruise beyond Mars to put itself in orbit around the gas giant in 2016. It is the first solar-powered mission to venture this far from the Sun.
The mission launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday at 12:25 local time (16:25 GMT; 17:25 BST), after a brief delay caused by a helium leak.
There were concerns with the helium charging system on the rocket's Centaur upper stage, but a small leak on the "ground side" of the rocket was found to be the culprit. “Today, with the launch of the Juno spacecraft, Nasa began a journey to yet another new frontier," said the agency's administrator Charles Bolden.
"The future of exploration includes cutting-edge science like this to help us better understand our Solar System and an ever-increasing array of challenging destinations."
No comments:
Post a Comment