Emre Kelly

FLORIDA TODAY

Update: LIFTOFF! OSIRIS-REx is officially on its way to asteroid Bennu. Read more here.

If all goes well, what begins at 7:05 p.m. Thursday in Cape Canaveral will end in the deserts of Utah in 2023.

A 189-foot-tall Atlas V rocket is set to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41 to help deliver a spacecraft to Bennu, an asteroid hurtling through space millions of miles away.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid in 2018, take a sample by 2020 and return to Earth in 2023 in what will hopefully be a soft landing in a Utah desert. It's the agency's first attempt at returning an asteroid sample to Earth.

Thursday's two-hour launch window opens at 7:05 p.m. Eastern time.

Atlas V blasts off with NASA mission to asteroid Bennu

Here's how you can tune in:

If you're joining us for the first time, there are two parts to our coverage:

live video of the launch

and a live chat with space reporter James Dean and digital producer Emre Kelly.

Our chat on FloridaToday.com kicks off at 4:30 p.m. and features in-depth coverage, photos, charts and more. You can also ask the team questions.

We'll host NASA's live video stream.

If you happen to step outside for the launch (or any launch in the future), bring your smartphone and stay tuned to live updates and video. The coverage is available at FloridaToday.com in your mobile browser and in our mobile (iOS and Android) and tablet (iOS) apps.

Contact Emre Kelly at 321-242-3715 or aekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EmreKelly.