NASA launches Satellite mission to Jupiter

The Mission Juno satellite launched into clear blue skies Friday, beginning a five-year journey to the largest planet in the solar system - Jupiter. NASA launched the $1.1 billion satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida after almost a decade of building and testing the spacecraft, the CNN reported. Mission Juno will offer an unprecedented look beneath the clouds of Jupiter and offer insight into how the solar system was formed, NASA said. Juno was launched atop an Atlas V 551 rocket, one of the world''s most powerful, NASA said. The rocket can reach a top speed of 4,500 mph and is expected to reach Earth''s orbit in about 10 minutes. After circling the inner ring of the solar system for two years, the craft will use the Earth''s gravitational pull to sling itself toward the gaseous planet. By 2016, Juno will have traveled the 400 million miles to reach Jupiter. Jupiter is key to understanding the solar system because it''s believed to be the first planet to exist after the formation of the sun, said Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the mission, told reporters last week.