AIAA Statement on NASA’s Psyche Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 13, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:

“Congratulations to NASA on today’s successful launch to study the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. We believe this mission is fueled by our human drive to learn more about the origins of our solar system. We look forward to following the mission’s progress.

We commend NASA’s entire Psyche team, including AIAA Corporate Members: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Maxar Technologies, and SpaceX, along with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Malin Space Science Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA Headquarters, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Planetary Science Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Southwest Research Institute, University of Arizona, University of California Los Angeles, Yale University, and over a dozen other universities and research institutions. We applaud the international partnership on this mission with the German Space Agency (DLR), the Côte d’Azur Observatory in France, and Technical University of Denmark.

On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we recognize the professionals in the aerospace industry involved in making this mission a success. We applaud the Psyche team for making important contributions to shaping the future of aerospace.”

AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, RebeccaG@AIAA.org, 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Banner image: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifts off from pad 39A at the KSC in Cape Canaveral, FL, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, on its way to the metallic asteroid Psyche, where it will enter orbit in 2029 and become the first spacecraft to explore a metal-rich asteroid. | Credit: John Raoux; Associated Press–©