KSC-04pd-2661

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Boeing Delta II second stage is lifted up the mobile service tower. The component will be reattached to the interstage adapter on the Delta II. The rocket is the launch vehicle for the Deep Impact spacecraft, scheduled for liftoff no earlier than Jan. 12. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the crater’s depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.