Science | Kepler spacecraft Kepler Begins Search for Other 'Earths' Spacecraft will spend next 3 years searching for planet in 'Goldilocks zone' By Rob Quinn Posted Mar 7, 2009 2:18 AM CST Copied Spectators watch the launch of NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft, Kepler Friday, March 6, 2009, from Cocoa Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Malcolm Denemark) NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft Kepler was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral last night, Space.com reports. Kepler, the widest-field telescope ever sent into space, will spend the next three years scanning the sky for a planet in the "Goldilocks zone" where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist and for life to take hold. "We have a feeling like we're about to set sail across an ocean to discover a new world," said the project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It's sort of the same feeling Columbus or Magellan must have had." The $600 million spacecraft will start scanning after a few weeks of health checks and will send its findings back to Earth monthly. Read These Next 'Bad batch' of drugs causes mass OD in Baltimore. Epstein fallout intensifies within Trump administration. Surgical staff squares off with ICE agents. He fired the crucial 'ninth shot' against Trump gunman. Report an error