Watch a video tour of NASA’s Lucy asteroid explorer



Set for launch Oct. 16 on a flight to explore asteroids in the outer solar system, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has been fueled and encapsulated inside the payload fairing of its Atlas 5 rocket. Watch as Chris McCaa, a manager from spacecraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin, points out some of the features of the probe.

The Lucy spacecraft is the centerpiece of a $981 million mission to visit eight asteroids, including seven located in swarms of Trojan asteroids ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit around the sun. Scientists believe the Trojan asteroids are leftovers from the early history of the solar system, and could provide clues about the formation of the giant planets.

Read more in our story previewing the mission.

This video was recorded Sept. 29 at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Cape Canaveral, one day before crews enclosed the Lucy spacecraft inside the two halves of the Atlas 5 nose cone.

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