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.

The mission is heading out into space to study the impact of NASA's successful high-speed collision with an asteroid in 2022.

In humanity’s latest bid to avoid going the way of the dinosaurs, a European spacecraft soared away from the coast of Florida on Monday. The mission, Hera, will visit an asteroid that NASA deliberately struck with another spacecraft two years ago.

Hera launched on Monday, Oct. 7, at 10:52 AM EDT (14:52 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. With the formation of Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico, the weather forecast for launch had been 15 percent favorable, but the weather was acceptable at launch time.

The European Space Agency’s Hera mission will investigate an asteroid that NASA deliberately struck with another spacecraft in a previous test of humanity’s planetary defense readiness.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday announced it was approving just one SpaceX Falcon 9 mission, although SpaceX has submitted its mishap report into why the second stage from last week’s Crew-9 mission failed to hit its planned target on reentry.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given the go ahead to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to return to flight solely for the European Space Agency's Hera asteroid mission from Florida. "The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to flight only for the planned Hera mission scheduled to launch on Oct.