WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Setting Off for Comet Collision

Deep Impact blasts off on its mission to crash into a comet, the object of which is to give NASA scientists their first look at the primordial ingredients of the solar system.
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Integration and test senior technician Rod Gillard checks the configuration of the impactor's spacecraft control unit at the Ball Aerospace & Technology facility in Boulder, Colorado. This image shows the impactor spacecraft with its moments-of-inertia shell removed.Courtesy of Ball Aerospace & Technologies

See related story: Setting Off for Comet Collision

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The spacecraft hovers in the clean room at Astrotech. The impactor spacecraft is surrounded by a protective structure.

Courtesy of JPL/NASA
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The High Resolution Imager (a long, cylindrical telescope) and the Medium Resolution Imager (a rectangular telescope) are mounted on the instrument platform.

Courtesy of Ball Aerospace & Technologies