NASA Spacecraft Enters Orbit Around Asteroid Vesta--A Space First
Sunday, July 17, 2011 - 11:30
in Astronomy & Space
An unmanned NASA probe made history 117 million miles from Earth on Saturday (July 16) when it arrived at the huge asteroid Vesta, making it the first spacecraft ever to orbit an object in the solar system's asteroid belt.The Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta after a four-year chase and will spend about a year studying the huge space rock before moving on to visit another asteroid called Ceres. [More]