NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched into space from Cape Canaveral on Friday at 10:49 PM EST, beginning an ambitious mission to discover Earth-like planets around other stars, according to Space.com.

The $600 million spacecraft will study the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way galaxy for at least three years in a planetary census that could potentially realign humanity's view of its place in the universe, the report said. The craft will orbit the sun once every 371 days, trailing the Earth's orbit in the process.

"At the end of those three years, we'll be able to answer, 'Are there other worlds out there or are we alone?'" said William Borucki, Kepler's principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., in the article. (Image credit: NASA TV)