NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) observatory launches aboard the Minotaur V rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Friday, September 6, in Virginia.
(CNN) -- NASA launched an unmanned rocket to the moon Friday night to study its lunar atmosphere and environment.
The 90-foot rocket carrying the orbiter was expected to be visible to much of the eastern U.S. seaboard when it launched from Virginia, officials said earlier. If skies were clear, residents of the Carolinas, northern Maine, West Virginia and Pittsburgh could see it, authorities said.
It launched at 11:27 p.m. ET at the Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island.
NASA launches unmanned moon orbiter
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer is designed to "orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust," NASA said.
"A thorough understanding of these characteristics will address long-standing unknowns, and help scientists understand other planetary bodies as well," NASA said.
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Nicknamed LADEE, it is expected to reach the moon on October 6.
Earth's distance from the moon is between 223,700 miles to 251,700 miles depending on the moon's position, the space agency says.
CNN's Diane Ruggiero contributed to this report.
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LADEE is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon, where it will provide unprecedented information about the environment around the moon and give scientists a better understanding of other planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond.
David W. Thompson, chairman and CEO of Orbital Sciences, left, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Mrs. Jaqueline Bolden watch the launch on September 6.
A rocket carrying a NASA moon orbiter sits on the launch pad in Wallops Island, Virginia, on September 6. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is designed to "orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust," NASA said.
During final preparations for launch, engineers mount the spacecraft onto a spin table and rotate it at high speeds to make sure it's perfectly balanced for flight.
The moon orbiter sits in the nose-cone at the top of the Minotaur V rocket, a ballistic missile converted into a space launch vehicle.
NASA engineers at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia load the spacecraft into the rocket's nose-cone. LADEE is the first spacecraft designed, developed, built and tested at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Engineers prepare to put the rocket into place.
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