NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Launches From Kennedy Space Center Highlights

Highlights from the Oct. 14, 2024, launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will travel 1.8 billion miles to study Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa. The spacecraft lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT (9:06 a.m. PDT).

Europa Clipper is NASA’s first mission dedicated to studying Europa, which likely has a salty ocean beneath its icy surface. The spacecraft is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment. The mission’s main goal is to determine whether Europa has the right conditions to support life.

Europa Clipper will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and make 49 flybys of Europa during its prime mission, which concludes in 2034.