Psyche mission, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 13, is the first-ever U.S. mission to study a metal-rich asteroid.
On Monday, the mission team turned on Psyche's twin cameras and retrieved the first images -- a milestone called "first light," NASA said on Tuesday.
The imager instrument, which consists of a pair of identical cameras, captured a total of 68 images, all within a star field in the constellation Pisces.
The imager team is using the data to verify proper commanding, telemetry analysis, and calibration of the images.
In the eight weeks since Psyche left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on scientific instruments, streaming data toward home, and setting a deep-space record with its electric thrusters, according to NASA.
It is expected to travel 3.5 billion kilometers to a metal-rich asteroid in the far reaches of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
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