Juno Mission Launches to Jupiter
An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday, sending a robotic scout on its way to Jupiter to sniff out details about how the solar system formed. NASA's Juno spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter after being launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on August 5 at 11:25 a.m. Eastern. The solar-powered spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016 and orbit its poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's interior, atmosphere and aurora. Scientists believe Jupiter holds the key to better understanding the origins of our solar system. Now that NASA has retired its shuttle fleet, the U.S. space spotlight could shift toward the robotic probes and observatories have brought the biggest leaps toward understanding the cosmos.