LAUNCH OF ESA’S JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER (JUICE), Apr 14, 2023, 8:14 am ET, Kourou, French Guiana (ESA TV begins 7:45 am ET)

Update, April 13:  The launch was scrubbed due to weather (lightning risk) and rescheduled for tomorrow, April 14, one minute earlier at 8:14 am ET.

Update, April 6:  ESA says the launch webcast on ESA TV will begin at 13:45 CEST (7:45 am EDT) and end at 16:05 CEST (10:05 am EDT), followed by a post-launch press conference from 16:30-17:15 CEST (10:30-11:15 am EDT).

Original Entry: The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft on an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on April 13, 2023 at 14:15 Central European Summer Time (8:15 am Eastern Daylight Time).

The launch will be livestreamed on ESA TV.

A pre-launch briefing in English will be livestreamed on ESA TV on April 6 from 14:00-15:00 CEST (8:00-9:00 am EDT). See our separate Calendar entry for that event.

The JUICE press kit is posted on ESA’s website. JUICE will take eight years (with five gravity assists) to reach Jupiter, arriving in July 2031. It will explore three of the planet’s icy moons — Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.