DEEP IMPACT LAUNCHED - January 12, 2005 at 1:47:08 p.m. EST

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Wednesday, January 12, 2005. The mission will travel to a comet and release an impactor on July 4, creating a crater on the surface of the comet. Scientists believe the exposed materials may give clues to the formation of our solar system.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD