Dawn spacecraft to get to dwarf planet by 2015

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Los Angeles • NASA says the Dawn spacecraft is journeying to its next destination after spending a year at a giant asteroid.

The space agency said Wednesday it received a signal from the spacecraft confirming that it left the asteroid Vesta and is cruising toward the dwarf planet Ceres where it will arrive in 2015.

Launched last year, Dawn is poised to be the first spacecraft to orbit two solar system bodies.

The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.