spacetoday.net: Deep Impact launch delayed again

Posted: Wed, Dec 15, 2004, 7:56 AM ET (1256 GMT)
Deep Impact spacecraft illustration (NASA/JPL)

NASA announced Wednesday that it has pushed back the launch of its Deep Impact comet mission, but the agency remains confident that the spacecraft can lift off before its launch window closes next month. Deep Impact is now scheduled to launch on a Delta 2 on January 12, four days later than previously planned. Project officials said the Delta's interstage, a component between the booster's first and second stages, had not been properly heat-treated and will have to be replaced. The launch had previously been delayed from December 30 because of software problems. The spacecraft's launch window extends through January 28; if the spacecraft does not launch by then it will not be able to reach its destination, comet Tempel 1, as planned in July. Deep Impact is designed to fly past the comet's nucleus as an impactor probe, ejected from the spacecraft prior to the flyby, crashes into the nucleus and exposes fresh material from below the surface.