Picture of the Day: NASA Launches Juno Aboard Atlas V Rocket

On Friday, August 5, not long after NASA wrapped its Space Shuttle program, it was on to the next project. That afternoon, the Juno spacecraft launched from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard one of the Atlas V rockets.

"June will make a five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter, orbit the planet, investigate its origins and evolution with eight instruments to probe its internal structure and gravity field, measure water and ammonia in its atmosphere, map its powerful magnetic field and observe its intense auroras," NASA explained.

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Image: NASA.