APOD: 2024 October 17 - The Clipper and the Comet

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the October 17th edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). We return from the 'Land Down Under' to Florida's Kennedy Space Center to a stately image of The Clipper and the Comet. 'The Comet' is our friend Comet A3 Tsuchinsan/ATLAS, but who is 'The Clipper'? It's full name is the NASA Europa Clipper, and it was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft is now on its way to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a Jovian moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA ever built for a mission headed to another planet, and in this image sits inside its payload faring atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Booster.