LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched its Psyche mission on Friday, the first-ever U.S. mission to study a metal-rich asteroid.
The Psyche spacecraft lifted off Friday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida.
Psyche will travel 3.5 billion kilometers to a metal-rich asteroid in the far reaches of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The mission aims to help scientists learn more about the formation of rocky bodies in our solar system, according to NASA. ■