A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission. The Maxar-built spacecraft will travel to the metallic asteroid Psyche, where it will enter orbit in 2029. This is the first spacecraft to explore a metal-rich asteroid, which may be the leftover core of a protoplanet that began forming in the early solar system more than 4 billion years ago. The Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters returned to Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for recovery. The center core was expended. Delayed from 2022 due to payload software issues. Moved forward from Oct. 10, 2023. Delayed from Oct. 5. Delayed from Oct. 12 due to weather.