On Sunday, NASA’s historic Deep Impact spacecraft will fly past Earth for the fifth and last time on its current University of Maryland-led EPOXI mission. At time of closest approach to Earth, the ...

For the first time, scientists have processed images from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft and clearly seen the solid body, or nucleus, of the comet through the vast cloud of dust and gas that surrounds ...

Blasting a hole in a comet with an earth-launched spacecraft sounds like the stuff of science fiction. Or fare for a Hollywood blockbuster. But this example of American space ingenuity is real and ...

If the $333 million mission is successful, Deep Impact will be the first spacecraft to touch the surface of a comet. In 2004, NASA's Stardust craft flew within 147 miles of Comet Wild 2 on its way ...

We've all seen the movie Deep Impact. That 1998 thriller where a comet barrels toward Earth, forcing world leaders to ...

As one epic NASA comet missions shuts down, another catches up with home. Umm... it is far cheaper to make radio contact with a probe already in orbit than launching something new. Sure, there are ...

People interested in seeing what happens Sunday night when NASA’s Deep Impact probe slams into Comet Tempel 1 will probably be better off sitting at their computers than gazing at the sky. One place ...

LOS ANGELES — Hours after the Deep Impact space probe flew within about 435 miles of comet Hartley 2 Thursday morning, images beamed back to Earth revealed a body shaped rather like a peanut or an ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name — Deep Impact — blasted off Wednesday on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse at the frozen primordial ...

PASADENA, Calif. – They weren’t a red, white, and blue spectacle, but the cosmic fireworks NASA created by blasting a hole in a comet were something for scientists to cheer about this Fourth of July ...

PASADENA, Calif. - A NASA spacecraft was speedily closing in Friday on its target, a comet scientists hope to smash open this weekend, producing celestial fireworks for the Independence Day weekend.