Apollo 11 (NASA)

This is pretty cool: For the first time, a spacecraft headed beyond Earth’s orbit will be launched from Virginia.

According to The Post, NASA will be launching a small robotic spacecraft from their Wallops Island facility on September 6, and that “if all follows the plan, and the clouds cooperate, the 11:27 p.m. launch should be visible in Washington and in much of the Northeast.”

While the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, which will be roughly “size of a small automobile,” is headed toward the moon, it will not actually land on it, but rather orbit around it during the 100-day mission. From the Daily Press:

During the 100-day mission, LADEE will collect data about the moon’s atmosphere and measure lunar dust. Officials said the information they learn from the mission may be applicable to understanding other celestial bodies with similar environments, such as Mercury.

“It’s a very exciting time for us,” Doug Voss, launch manager at Wallops Island, said at the event. “We’re looking forward to a successful launch and flight operation for LADEE.”

Though this is the first space launch from Virginia, don’t expect it to be the last. NASA told the Post that this launch “[illustrates] the expansion of space-related activities in the Washington region, it will be operated by a Virginia corporation: Orbital Sciences of Dulles.”

To infinity and beyond, D.C.