Craft Scores Bull's-Eye On Comet ; Probe Vaporizes in Blaze of Debris

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PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft completed a flawless journey to oblivion early Monday, slamming into an onrushing comet to vaporize itself in an Independence Day blaze of glory.

Scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory cheered as spectacular images taken by a second flyby spacecraft positioned nearby confirmed that the "impactor" had scored a perfect bull's-eye, smacking into comet Tempel 1 at its lower edge at 1:52 a.m. EDT, spewing a column of debris that lit up the heavens.

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Craft Scores Bull's-Eye On Comet ; Probe Vaporizes in Blaze of Debris

"Oh, my God, look at that!" shouted JPL astronomer Donald Yeomans as the first images were posted. "There's considerably more material [debris] than I thought. It looks enormous."

By assessing the shape and size of the crater and chemically anal...

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