European Telescope Launched to Hunt for Clues to Universe’s Darkest Secrets

Crowds on the beach in Cocoa Beach, Fla., watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the European Space Agency with the Euclid space telescope, on July 1, 2023. Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—A European space telescope blasted off Saturday on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe.

SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory toward its ultimate destination 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, the Webb Space Telescope’s neighborhood. It will take a month to get there and another two months before it starts its ambitious six-year survey this fall.