WASHINGTON, March 12 -- NASA's newest space telescope was launched into orbit on Tuesday, embarking on a mission to survey the entire sky in an unprecedented way. This ambitious project aims to analyze hundreds of millions of galaxies and their collective cosmic glow, tracing back to the universe's earliest moments.

The Spherex observatory was carried into space by a SpaceX rocket from California, entering a polar orbit around Earth. Alongside it, four small satellites were deployed to study the sun. After separating from the rocket's upper stage, Spherex drifted into space with Earth's blue surface visible behind it.

With a budget of $488 million, the Spherex mission seeks to deepen our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution o...