Delta II launches Dawn to Ceres & Vesta

9/27/07 ~ 7:34 a.m.

Dawn launches at dawn: A Delta II-Heavy, with slightly larger Solid Rocket Boosters than a typical Delta II, blasts NASA's Dawn mission on a three-billion mike trek to the asteroid belt where it will orbit Ceres and Vesta, the largest asteroids in the solar system (Ceres was recently reclassified as a dwarf planet). Launch occurred just 21 minutes after sunrise on a gorgeous morning at Cape Canaveral.