NASA HISTORY: DAWN Spacecraft Launched From Cape Canaveral Eight Years Ago

By  //  September 28, 2015

DAWN was the first mission to investigate Ceres

ABOVE VIDEO: This is the launch of the NASA Dawn spacecraft on board a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, September 27, 2007. Shot from three miles away at Port Canaveral, Florida.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – In 2007, DAWN launched from Cape Canaveral to visit asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.

Vesta is a dry asteroid with a surface showing signs of resurfacing that bears some of the hallmarks of Earth and other rocky bodies of the inner solar system.

Ceres’ surface contains water-bearing minerals and a weak atmosphere, similar to the icy moons in the outer solar system.

DAWN was the first mission to investigate Ceres, the dwarf planet.

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The goal of the DAWN mission was to study both of these objects to compare how each was formed.

In addition, DAWN’s mission was to provide more information about how the solar system formed.

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In 2007, DAWN launched from Cape Canaveral to visit asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. (NASA.gov image)
In 2007, DAWN launched from Cape Canaveral to visit asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. (NASA.gov image)