Nasa’s “historic mission” to hunt for life on other planets has begun thanks to perfect weather conditions in the US.
Delta II lifted off to take the Kepler telescope into space.
A rocket carrying the powerful Kepler telescope took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida bang on schedule at 3.48am UK time.
The craft – named after the German 17th Century astrophysicist Kepler – will search for planets like Earth in a faraway corner of the galaxy.
The telescope, which is fitted with British-made light detectors so powerful it can spot a fly on a car headlight a mile away, will spend more than three years staring at 100,000 stars.
It will measure their brightness and any winks in the light that may signify orbiting planets.