Dodging stormy weather ahead of Hurricane Milton, SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s $398 million Hera probe Monday on a follow-up flight to find out precisely how a moonlet orbiting a small asteroid was affected by the high-speed impact of NASA’s DART probe in 2022.The launching was in doubt until the last moment, with thick clouds and rain across Florida’s Space Coast, fueled by moisture pulled in by the intensifying hurricane to the west.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Oct. 7, 2024, boosting the European Space Agency’s Hera probe toward deep space to explore the asteroid Didymos and its small moon Dimorphos. / Credit: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight NowBut as the launch time approached, conditions improved enough to satisfy launch safety rules and NASA managers cleared the rocket for takeoff. Right on time, at 10:52 a.m. EDT, the Falcon 9’s first stage engines ignited with a burst of flame and the booster climbed smoothly away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.Liftoff came in the nick of time for several hundred European Space Agency managers, scientists, engineers and journalists who flew to Florida to watch the launch.A spectacular view from a camera mounted on the Falcon 9’s second stage as its engine powered the rocket and the European Hera asteroid probe toward a deep space Earth-escape trajectory. / Credit: SpaceXHurricane Milton is expected to bring extreme winds and torrential rain to Florida’s Space Coast by Wednesday, a forecast that prompted NASA to stand down on plans to launch the agency’s $5.2 billion Europa mission to Jupiter and its ice-covered moon Europa on Thursday.Instead, NASA announced late Sunday the rocket and it costly payload will remain in a SpaceX hangar at the base of launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center until Milton passes by and safety personnel have a chance to inspect spaceport facilities for signs of damage.The weather also has thrown a wrench into NASA’s plans to bring three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut back to Earth after a 217-day stay aboard the International Space Station.Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, …
