There were no technical or weather issues during launch, and Kepler is now on its way to discovering planets similar to our own.

 

“It was a stunning launch,” said Kepler Project Manager James Fanson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “Our team is thrilled to be part of something so meaningful to the human race – Kepler will help us understand if our Earth is unique or if others like it are out there.”

 

The spacecraft will watch more than 100,000 stars in search for such planets, the first of which will be the so called “hot-Jupiters.”

 

The mission will extend on 3.5 years, and scientists believe it will help them better understand what is out there, and perhaps answer the question: are we alone or are there other Earths in the galaxy?

 

It will take 2 months before Kepler will actually begin its search for planets. In the first month after launch, NASA’s control team will send Kepler commands to eject its dust cover and begin the first measurements. In the second month, Kepler’s instrument and its wide-field camera will be calibrated, before its mission can properly begin.

 

According to the agency, the mission will begin with studying gas giants circling close around their stars, followed by Neptune-sized planets, and Earth-sized rocky ones next. But it will take a minimum of three years to discover and confirm the existence of analog-Earths, NASA explained.