SpaceX launches planet-hunting TESS to space before landing rocket back on Earth

Have fun in space, TESS! 

Our favorite new NASA mission — called TESS, short for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite —  launched to space at 6:51 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite landed back on Earth on a drone ship in the Atlantic not long after. 

TESS is on a mission to hunt for never-before-seen alien planets circling distant stars, particularly those that have the potential for hosting alien life. 

SEE ALSO: Here's how NASA's TESS will hunt for alien planets

TESS plans to survey 85 percent of the sky, keeping a particular eye on 200,000 stars once it gets to its expected orbit in the coming weeks. Read more...

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