During which process does a cell divide into two separate cells?

The process during which a cell divides into two separate cells is known as mitosis. Mitosis is a type of cell division that occurs in somatic (non-reproductive) cells, allowing for growth and repair in multicellular organisms. During this process, a single cell undergoes a series of stages—prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase—leading to the formation of two identical daughter cells, each with the same number of chromosomes as the original cell.

While fission also refers to cell division, it typically describes a method primarily used by simpler organisms such as bacteria, which don't undergo the complex stages seen in mitosis. Meiosis, on the other hand, is a special type of cell division that produces gametes with half the number of chromosomes and involves two rounds of division, resulting in four non-identical cells. Asexual reproduction is a broader category that includes processes like mitosis, but it doesn't specifically refer to cell division alone, as it can encompass methods that lead to entire organisms being produced from a single parent cell. Thus, the specificity of mitosis in the context of the question makes it the correct answer.