The DAWN spacecraft is about to launch in preparation for its departure on September 26 for an asteroid research mission

For several months, the spacecraft will orbit each asteroid, Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest bodies in the asteroid belt

Despite delays and near-cancellation, NASA's DAWN spacecraft is on the launch pad and ready to begin its mission to two of the largest asteroids in the solar system. If all goes well, Dawn will lift off in the early morning hours of September 26 from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta 2 rocket. The first - the asteroid Vesta.

The Dawn spacecraft was transported to Boeing's Delta 2 launcher from a facility of the Astratec Space Operations company, which is 25 km away from the launch 17B in Cape Canaveral on Tuesday. Until the launch, the engineers will perform final tests to simulate the launch, but without the rocket fuel of course.

The launch window will open on September 26 at 07:25 EST (13:25 Israel time) and will remain open for 29 minutes. A similar window will open all the following days until it finally closes on October 15. The spacecraft must be launched between these dates to get the correct speed to complete the mission.

DAWN's mission is to fly to and orbit two of the largest asteroids in the solar system (each separately), Ceres and Vesta. No spacecraft has yet orbited these bodies. Although both are asteroids, they formed under different conditions in the early solar system. Thus, this one spacecraft will be able to orbit each asteroid in turn and study its chemical composition and take detailed pictures of its surface.