SpaceX returned to flight with its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, sending up the Hera probe for the European Space Agency on its way to a pair of asteroids, but SpaceX and NASA have called off plans to launch the Falcon Heavy later this week on NASA's Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's moon because of the approaching Hurricane Milton.

NASA and SpaceX have postponed the launch of the Europa Clipper mission due to Hurricane Milton threatening Florida's Space Coast with high winds and heavy rain. The spacecraft has been secured at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A,

Discovering extraterrestrial life would be one of the most profound scientific and philosophical revelations that our species has ever made. But such a big discovery won't come easy. Our starting point is to first search other worlds for signs of habitability,

NASA's Europa Clipper, the largest spacecraft designed for a planetary mission, was recently moved to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A in anticipation of its launch. The spacecraft, encapsulated within payload fairings for protection,

The Europa Clipper had been scheduled to launch Thursday from Florida, beginning its six-year journey to the Jupiter moon to search for signs of life.

All of that, plus fuel, means the spacecraft tips the scales at approximately 13,000 lbs., which requires a bruiser of a rocket to muscle it off the ground. Europa Clipper will get that rocket, in the form of the 27-engine SpaceX Falcon Heavy, with over 5 million lbs. of thrust, able to launch more than 37,000 lbs. on an interplanetary trajectory.

NASA is poised to launch Europa Clipper, a $5.2 billion mission to Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, as early as October 10. The spacecraft will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. It will study Europa, a possible home for extraterrestrial life, through a series of flybys after reaching Jupiter in 2030.