NASA's Europa Clipper leaves for Jupiter's moon atop Falcon Heavy

SpaceX has sent NASA's Europa Clipper on its mission to the Jupiter moon atop its Falcon Heavy rocket.

It was the sixth and final flight for the first stage side boosters, which have been used in US Space Force missions and the launch of the NASA Psyche mission a year ago. This time around, the mission called for the rocket's maximum performance, meaning that no recovery attempt was made.

During a pre-launch media briefing, Julianna Scheiman, SpaceX director of NASA's Science Missions, said: "The mission requires the maximum performance, so we won't be recovering the boosters."

She added: "I don't know about you guys, but I can't think of a better mission to sacrifice boosters for, when we might have an opportunity to discover life in our own solar system. How cool ...