Deep Impact Launched and Flying Toward Date With a Comet

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle (818) 393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Dolores Beasley (202) 358-1753
NASA Headquarters, Washington

George H. Diller (321) 867-2468
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

News Release: 2005-015 January 12, 2005

Deep Impact Launched and Flying Toward Date With a Comet

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft began its 431 million
kilometer (268 million mile) journey to comet Tempel 1 today
at 1:47:08 p.m. EST.

Data received from the spacecraft indicate it has deployed
and locked its solar panels, is receiving power and achieved
proper orientation in space. Data also indicate the
spacecraft has placed itself in a safe mode and is awaiting
further commands from Earth.

Deep Impact mission managers are examining data returns from
the mission. Further updates on the mission will be
posted to http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact and
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

Deep Impact is comprised of two parts, a "fly-by" spacecraft
and a smaller "impactor." The impactor will be released
into the comet's path for a planned collision on July 4. The
crater produced by the impactor is expected to be up to the
size of a football stadium and two to 14 stories deep. Ice
and dust debris will be ejected from the crater, revealing
the material beneath.

The fly-by spacecraft will observe the effects of the
collision. NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space
telescopes, and other telescopes on Earth, will also observe
the collision.

Comets are time capsules that hold clues about the formation
and evolution of the Solar System. They are composed of ice,
gas and dust, primitive debris from the Solar System's
distant and coldest regions that formed 4.5 billion years ago.

The management of the Deep Impact launch was the
responsibility of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Deep
Impact was launched from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Fla. Delta II launch service was provided by
Boeing Expendable Launch Systems, Huntington Beach, Calif.
The spacecraft was built for NASA by Ball Aerospace and
Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colo. Deep Impact project
management is by JPL.

For more information about the mission on the Internet,
visit http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact or
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit
http://www.nasa.gov .

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