NASA will provide coverage of upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for Lucy, the agencys first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
Lucy is scheduled to launch no earlier than 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 16, on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Live launch coverage will begin at 5 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, theNASA app, and the agencyswebsite. NASA will hold a prelaunch briefing Wednesday, Oct. 13, and science and engineering briefings Oct. 14.
Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids. The spacecraft will fly by one asteroid in the solar systems main belt and seven Trojan asteroids. Lucys path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists, which will make it the first spacecraft ever to return to our planets vicinity from the outer solar system.
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, all media participation in news conferences will be remote dial-in only. A phone bridge will be provided for each briefing.
Full mission coverage is as follows. Information is subject to change:
Wednesday, Oct. 13
1 p.m.: Lucy prelaunch news conference with the following participants:
- Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASAs Science Mission Directorate at the agencys Headquarters in Washington.
- Hal Levison, Lucy principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute.
- Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, Lucy Project Manager at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
- John Elbon, Chief Operating Officer, United Launch Alliance.
- Launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, Space Launch Delta 45, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- Omar Baez, Lucy Launch Director, NASAs Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
