NASA big firecracker on July 4, 2005

[Guest]

Ron Lambert, please tell me what to thing about this big firecracker that the NASA scientists are ready to fire on July 4, have the bitten off more than they can chew this time? Is the rocket already launched, I know next to nothing about it.

[Ron Lambert]

Here's an account I found on the National Geographic website:

Quote:

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NASA Readies "Deep Impact" Craft for Comet Smash

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Stefan Lovgren

for National Geographic News

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December 16, 2004

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The launch of NASA's Deep Impact mission to smash a spacecraft into a comet on July 4, 2005, has been delayed until at least January 12. That means the mission team will have fewer potential launch dates to choose from, because their target comet will only be in range for a short time.

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But scientists said this week that they are still confident the mission will go off as planned.

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"We expect to provide some great fireworks for all our observatories … next Fourth of July," engineer Rick Grammier said at a news conference this week. Grammier is the Deep Impact project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

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If all goes as planned, a flyby spacecraft will shoot a projectile about the size of a trash can into the surface of a frozen ball of ice and rock, comet Tempel 1, creating a crater the size of a football stadium.

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The mission is the first time a spacecraft will touch the nucleus of a comet. Scientists hope to find out more about what the comet is made of....

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The whole article can be read at:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1216_041216_deep_impact_comet.html

Here is an update on the Mission status from NASA:

Quote:

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01.13.05 - Deep Impact Status Report

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is out of safe mode and healthy, and on its way to an encounter with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005.

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Source:

http://www1.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/

The impact with the comet is supposed to take place 83 million miles from earth.

While the mission name is appropriate, it is perhaps unfortunate that a disaster movie only a few years ago involving an earthbound comet had the same name.

Let's hope the NASA impact on the comet does not just happen to alter its course enough to make it hit earth. I just said that to give you something to worry about, Ed. The chances are probably vanishingly small.

How many of you thought this was just an April Fool's joke by Ed? Sorry--seems to be true.