Mission Atlas
← Mission directory

Mission record

Dawn

NASA, JPL · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

NASA's Dawn orbited asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres after a Mars gravity assist, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial destinations. Launched in 2007, it completed its successful mission in 2018 after exhausting its hydrazine.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Delta II Heavy 2925H-9.5 rocket including Star 48 upper stage
Launch site
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Pad 17B
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter, Flyby

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launch on a Delta II Heavy from Cape Canaveral

    The cited source reports 7:34 a.m. EDT (UTC−4), converted to 11:34 UTC.

    Earth

  2. Gravity assist

    Mars gravity assist

    Mars

  3. Orbit insertion

    Entered orbit around Vesta

    Vesta

  4. Departure

    Departed Vesta for Ceres

    Vesta

  5. Orbit insertion

    Entered orbit around Ceres

    Ceres

  6. Mission end

    Successful mission concludes after hydrazine depletion

    Ceres

Mission architecture

Vehicles

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: September 27, 2007 to October 30, 2018

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Dawn: Reconstructed · September 27, 2007 to October 30, 2018

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 4, 2026