NASA Dawn Spacecraft Returns Close-Up Image of Asteroid Vesta

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Source:  NASA RELEASE: 2011-213 

Excerpt: PASADENA, Calif. NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up image after beginning its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta. …Vesta is 330 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter and the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. …After traveling nearly four years and 1.7 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers), Dawn also accomplished the largest propulsive acceleration of any spacecraft, with a change in velocity of more than 4.2 miles per second (6.7 kilometers per second), due to its ion engines. …

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