NASA's Psyche spacecraft launched successfully on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on October 13.
Psyche is headed to a metal asteroid that may be the exposed core of a destroyed planet.
The mission was delayed 14 months by software issues, increasing costs by 20%.
Psyche has a laser comms system to test high-bandwidth data transfer.
First NASA science mission on a Falcon Heavy rocket.
After tweaks due to delays, Psyche will arrive at the asteroid in August 2029.
Data from Psyche will give insights into metallic planetary cores.