NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, set to visit the icy moon of Jupiter, was set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week but had its launch delayed because of Hurricane Milton. Now, NASA has announced that it is targeting no earlier than Monday, October 14, for the launch, and we’ve got the details on how you can watch the event live.
What to expect from the Europa Clipper launch
The mission intends to explore Europa, the moon of Jupiter that has a liquid water ocean beneath a thick, icy shell. Because of the presence of liquid water there, scientists want to learn whether the moon could be potentially habitable, as it is one of the most promising locations that life could survive outside of Earth. The mission will search for information about the ocean and the presence of the building blocks of life, called organic compounds, to see if the ingredients for life are present there.
Europa Clipper had been scheduled to launch this week on Thursday October 10, but the launch was postponed because of the hurricane conditions around the Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft had to be secured against the high winds and heavy rain in its hanger at Launch Complex 39A.
“The safety of launch team personnel is our highest priority, and all precautions will be taken to protect the Europa Clipper spacecraft,” said Tim Dunn, senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Services Program, at the time. “Once we have the ‘all-clear’ followed by facility assessment and any recovery actions, we will determine the next launch opportunity for this NASA flagship mission.”
NASA Kennedy confirmed that it was all clear after the storm, and now teams are continuing to check the status of the spacecraft and the ground systems, but NASA has confirmed it is targeting Monday onward for the launch.
How to watch the Europa Clipper launch
The launch will be livestreamed by NASA, which you can watch either using the NASA+ app or using the YouTube video embedded above. The YouTube video currently has a date of November 6 on it, but this is just a placeholder date and not when the actual launch will take place.
The exact time of the launch hasn’t been announced yet, but you can follow NASA’s X (formerly Twitter) account to get details as soon as the time is made public.
