NASA launches the Dawn probe to the asteroid belt.

Dawn (spacecraft)

NASA orbiter mission to asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres (2007–2018)

Dawn is a retired space probe that was launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres. In the fulfillment of that mission—the ninth in NASA's Discovery Program—Dawn entered orbit around…