Posted: Thu, May 12, 2011, 7:32 AM ET (1132 GMT)
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned its first image of the asteroid Vesta as it begins its approach to the large asteroid, the space agency announced Wednesday. The image was taken May 3 when the spacecraft was 1.21 million kilometers from the main belt asteroid. Dawn is scheduled to enter orbit around Vesta on July 16, nearly four years after launch. The spacecraft, propelled by ion thrusters, will remain in orbit around Vesta for a year before leaving to go to the largest main belt asteroid, Ceres, arriving in 2015.

Related Links:

•  Aviation Week article
•  SPACE.com article
•  AP article
•  NASA press release