Dawn Liftoff
Date: 27 Sep 2007

Just after sunrise, the Delta II rocket carrying NASA's Dawn spacecraft rose from its launch pad to begin its 1.7-billion-mile journey through the inner solar system to study a pair of asteroids.


Liftoff was at 7:34 a.m. EDT from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.


Dawn is NASA's first purely scientific mission powered by three solar electric ion propulsion engines.


Last Update: 10 Feb 2012 (AMB)

Credit: NASA/Tony Gray & Robert Murray