NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is running on fumes after chasing down two comets in the last five years, but the probe's cosmic work may not be done yet. Deep Impact cruised to within 435 miles (700 ...

Scientists on the trail of comets in deep space "reluctantly" announced Friday an end to NASA's Deep Impact mission after nearly a decade that included celestial fly-bys and hundreds of thousands of ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

LOS ANGELES — NASA said Tuesday it is recycling two used spacecraft to lead new robotic missions to study comets and planets around other stars. The encore performances of the Deep Impact and Stardust ...

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

MOSCOW – When NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft hurls a barrel-sized probe at the comet Tempel-1 millions of miles from Earth on July 4, Marina Bai of Moscow will take it very personally. The 45-year-old ...

PASADENA, Calif. -- It's a space mission straight out of Hollywood -- launch a spacecraft 268 million miles so it can aim a barrel-sized probe toward a speeding comet half the size of Manhattan and ...

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 ...