Carol Raymond, far right, speaks during a news briefing to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's year-long visit to the asteroid Vesta, Thursday, June 23, 2011, at NASA headquarters in Washington as from left, Jim Adams, Robert Mase and Christopher Russell look on. Dawn's visit to Vesta will be the first prolonged encounter with a main belt asteroid and the first trip to a protoplanet, a large body that almost became a planet. Observations will help us understand the earliest chapter of our solar system's history. The mission is expected to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16 and begin gathering science data in early August. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
