* Astronomy

STATUS REPORT: ELV-072007

Mission: Dawn
Location: Pad 17-B
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925-H
Launch Timeframe: September

Dawn remains atop the Delta II launch vehicle at Pad 17-B. The spacecraft will be removed from the launch vehicle on Saturday, July 21, and returned to the Astrotech payload processing facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.
A firm date for launch is still being determined based on the launch window for the science of the mission, the availability of the Eastern Range and the necessary tracking, data and telemetry support.
The launch opportunity extends from Sept. 7 to Oct. 15.

The designers at NASA are preparing to fly what may be the feeblest spacecraft they've ever built--and they couldn't be prouder of it. Never mind the decades of unmanned probes that have gone roaring into the void at tens of thousands of miles per hour, fire streaming from their tails. The new ship will putt-putt into interplanetary space under the power--if that's even the word--of an engine that accelerates by barely 24 km/h per day, or zero to 60 in more than half a week. Yet the places the ship is going--and the remarkable way it will get there--could open an entire new era in space travel.

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The launch of NASA's Dawn spacecraft, a mission that will explore the two largest objects in the asteroid belt in an effort to answer questions about the formation of our solar system, has been rescheduled to September.
The decision was made today to move the launch to September after careful review by NASA's Science Mission Directorate officials, working with Dawn mission managers, the Dawn principal investigator, and with the concurrence of the NASA Administrator.
Primary reasons for the move were a combination of highly limited launch opportunities for Dawn in July and the potential impact to launch preparations for the upcoming Phoenix Mars Lander mission, set for early August. A September launch for Dawn maintains all of the science mission goals a July launch would have provided.

Source NASA

The Dawn spacecraft launch has been postponed until no earlier than Sunday, July 15.
The planned weekend launch of a spacecraft to explore two of the solar system's largest asteroids was delayed to the middle of the month because of problems with a tracking ship and aircraft.
NASA had set Monday afternoon as a new launch time for the Dawn spacecraft, however, late Friday, NASA officials announced the spacecraft would launch July 15, instead.

Launch Press Kit (2.2mb, PDF)
Dawn Video (Google video14:40 min. RunTime)

This is the NASA Dawn Mission video.  Leonard Nimoy narrates while mission scientists and engineers explain the science and technological challenges of visiting the Asteroid Belt.