The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft -- set to provide the closest look yet at the "heart" of a comet -- successfully launched today at 2:47 a.m. EDT aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

CONTOUR spacecraft leaving the launch pad at KSC aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket.

Designed and built by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, MD, the 2,138-pound (970-kilogram) spacecraft was placed into an elliptical Earth orbit 63 minutes after launch. About 19 minutes later the mission operations team at APL acquired a signal from the spacecraft through the Deep Space Network antenna station in Goldstone, CA.

CONTOUR will orbit Earth until Aug. 15, when it's scheduled to fire its main engine and enter a comet-chasing orbit around the sun. The mission's flexible four-year plan includes encounters with comets Encke (Nov. 12, 2003) and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (June 19, 2006), though it can add an encounter with a "new" and scientifically valuable comet from the outersolar system, should one be discovered in time for CONTOUR to fly past it.

CONTOUR's four scientific instruments will take detailed pictures and measure the chemical makeup of each comet's nucleus -- a chunk of ice and rock -- while analyzing the surrounding gas and dust.

The 8-sided solar-powered craft will fly as close as 62 miles (100 kilometers) from each nucleus, protected by a 10-inch-thick, layered dust shield of heavy Nextel and Kevlar fabric. Scientists expect the data to reveal the differences between comet nuclei and answer questions about the role comets had in shaping the Earth and other planets.

"We're looking forward to a fantastic mission," says APL's Edward L. Reynolds, who at launch assumed the role of CONTOUR project manager from Mary C. Chiu, who is retiring from APL. "From mission design and operations at APL, to the navigation group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to the science effort headed by Cornell University, this team includes the talent and expertise needed to capture and deliver the best data yet on a comet's nucleus."

Visit the CONTOUR website for more on the spectacular pre-dawn launch.

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