Deep Impact

Earlier this morning, the Deep Impact probe's impactor successfully separated from its flyby mothership. The 371 kg impactor is set to crash into Comet Tempel 1 at 1:52 AM EDT, Monday July 4th, thereby revealing the primordial composition of the comet, thus providing an insight both into the chemical composition of the early Solar System and how life may have emerged on Earth. Follow the Deep Impact news special on the mission's homepage at JPL and on Space.com. Pre- and post-impact coverage can be seen on Nasa TV. A great animation of the mission can be found on BBC.