Intro music.
The Deep Impact spacecraft took the first step toward its journey to comet
Tempel 1 when it arrived in Florida in October.
It was shipped by truck from Ball Aerospace and Technologies in Boulder, Colorado,
to the Astrotech Space Operations facility near the Kennedy Space Center.
After removal from the container, the spacecraft was carefully moved to a work stand for post-shipping check-out.
With the spacecraft secured, technicians attached large protective covers to its solar arrays,
which were then locked to the open position.
A series of mission readiness tests will follow the loading of updated flight software.
The spacecraft is scheduled for a December 30 launch aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
On July 4, 2005, when it's 83 million miles from Earth, Deep Impact will fire an 820-pound copper projectile
that will collide with the comet's surface at a speed of 23 thousand miles per hour.
The force will produce a crater that could be up to as large as a football field.
Deep Impact will collect data and pictures from the impact,
sending them back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.
By studying the results, astronomers hope to discover whether
comets exhaust their supply of gas and dust into space or seal it inside.
They would also like to learn more about the structure of a comet's interior.