The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched its Lucy spacecraft on Saturday on a 12-year journey to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

Lucy was launched at 5:34 a.m. Eastern Time (0934 GMT) on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

During its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one main belt asteroid, and seven Trojans.