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Lucy: Inspiration and Asteroids

illustration of seven asteroids
NASA's Lucy mission will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids.

NASA’s Lucy mission will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one asteroid in the solar system’s main asteroid belt, and by seven Trojan asteroids.

This illustration is of the Lucy mission’s seven targets: the binary asteroid Patroclus/Menoetius, Eurybates, Orus, Leucus, Polymele, and the main belt asteroid DonaldJohanson.

Lucy is scheduled to launch on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at 5:34 a.m. EDT.

Learn More:How Were the Trojan Asteroids Discovered and Named?Inspiration Links The Beatles, a Fossil and a NASA Mission

Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab