NASA's Dawn spacecraft is winging its way through interplanetary space after a successful separation from the Delta 2 rocket that launched it from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station."We've had spacecraft separation and Dawn is on its way to the asteroid belt," NASA Launch Commentator George Diller said from the Mission Director's Center at the launch base. "It appears to have been by all accounts a happy and successful launch this morning."
The Dawn spacecraft already is 4,000 miles away from Earth, traveling at a speed over more than 25,000 mph. It will reach the asteroid Vesta in 2011 and the asteroid Ceres in 2015.
The $450 million mission will be the first to visit two planetary bodies. Instruments aboard the spacecraft will beam back data that will enable scientists to study the age-old asteroids, which are remnants from the birth of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Doing so will provide a better understanding of the early evolution of the solar system.
The Dawn spacecraft is expected to beam back initial data in the next couple of hours. The data will allow engineers to determine whether all systems on the craft are working properly.
A post-launch news conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Live NASA TV coverage of the briefing will be webcast here in The Flame Trench.. Click the link below the NASA TV Webcast box in the upper right to launch our NASA TV viewer.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge and save the stunning photo of a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket blasting off with NASA's Dawn spacecraft. Photo credit: Carleton Bailie, United Launch Alliance.
Gallery of launch photos.
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