Dawn Mission Cancelled

Editor’s note: Upon returning to her office from this morning’s hearing, Mary Cleave cancelled the Discovery “Dawn” mission. Curiously, with several hours during the hearing to do so, she did not bother to mention to the House Science Committee that she was about to do this.

Editor’s update: Reliable sources report that NASA called Dawn Principal Investigator Chris Russell today with the news of the mission’s cancellation – just as he was off to attend his mother’s funeral.

Dawn asteroid mission killed, says report, New Scientist