SpaceX launched the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft on Monday to see a test NASA performed in 2022 to knock the moonlet off its orbit from an asteroid actually worked.

Hera spacecraft launches over Florida coast. Though Hurricane Milton is moving its way toward Florida's western coast, the Hera spacecraft still managed to depart Monday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The Hera spacecraft, which took flight late Monday morning, is part of a broader effort to bolster humanity’s planetary defense readiness. transcript “Three, two, one. Ignition, engines full ...

The Hera spacecraft is seen after separating from its Falcon 9 rocket with a stunning crescent Earth in the background after launch on Oct. 7, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX/ESA) ...

At 10:52 a.m. Monday, SpaceX will launch the Hera spacecraft for ESA from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40. The destination of this surveying spacecraft is the same asteroid system NASA previously ...

At 10:52 a.m. Monday, SpaceX will launch the Hera spacecraft for ESA from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40. The destination of this surveying spacecraft is the same asteroid system NASA previously ...

The Hera spacecraft is seen after separating from its Falcon 9 rocket with a stunning crescent Earth in the background after launch on Oct. 7, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX/ESA) ...

Updated 4:15 p.m. Eastern with post-launch comment. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Falcon 9 successfully launched a European asteroid mission Oct. 7 in a partial return to flight for the rocket.

Led by the European Space Agency (ESA), Hera is scheduled for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 15.52 UK time. Its mission will see it fly by Mars in March 2025, before rendezvousing with the ...

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch company’s Dragon spacecraft again this November. Bruce Weaver/AFP via Getty Images. It’s been an action-packed month in space.