In 2013 I received a surprising email from Hal Levison, a NASA scientist, explaining his idea for a new space mission to be called the Lucy Mission: “As Lucy taught us about the origins of our species, the Lucy Mission will teach us about the origins of our solar system.” 

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Life of Lucy: NASA's Record-Breaking Mission to the Trojan Asteroids

The first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

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Lucy (spacecraft)

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 I was invited a few times to see the craft being constructed, then had the thrill of a lifetime watching it launch from Cape Canaveral on October 16, 2021. My good friend Evan Dobelle took this amazing footage of what scientists at NASA called one of the most dramatic they’d ever seen:

Here is the schedule of asteroids on the path of the Lucy Craft as it heads toward the Trojans. As you can see, the scientists went full throttle with the Australopithecus afarensis theme, naming asteroids after Selam (the Lucy child discovered by Zeray Alemseged), Dinkinesh (the Ethiopian name for Lucy) and Donald Johanson (that guy who discovered Lucy.)

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Lucy Will Explore Asteroid Donaldjohanson

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On April 20, 2025, I was invited to be in the lab when Lucy took photos of my asteroid. Also in attendance was Brian May, the guitarist for the group Queen, who happens to be a brilliant astrophysicist, too, having earned his Ph.D. studying zodiacal dust. Quite impressive, wouldn't you say?

Me with some large-brained humans: Hal Levison, Simone March, Brian May, John Spencer, and Joel Parker. After the flyby, they told me something exciting, and not to brag, but if you google "What famous people have seen their asteroid?" guess whose picture comes up!