<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <P> Official insignia of the Deep Impact mission </P> Discovery program ← MESSENGER Dawn → </Td> </Tr> <P> Official insignia of the Deep Impact mission </P> <P> Deep Impact was a NASA space probe launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 18: 47 UTC on January 12, 2005 . It was designed to study the interior composition of the comet Tempel 1 (9P / Tempel), by releasing an impactor into the comet . At 05: 52 UTC on July 4, 2005, the impactor successfully collided with the comet's nucleus . The impact excavated debris from the interior of the nucleus, forming an impact crater . Photographs taken by the spacecraft showed the comet to be more dusty and less icy than had been expected . The impact generated an unexpectedly large and bright dust cloud, obscuring the view of the impact crater . </P> <P> Previous space missions to comets, such as Giotto and Stardust, were fly - by missions . These missions were able to photograph and examine only the surfaces of cometary nuclei, and even then from considerable distances . The Deep Impact mission was the first to eject material from a comet's surface, and the mission garnered large publicity from the media, international scientists, and amateur astronomers . </P>

The deep impact mission sent an impactor crashing into comet tempel 1. what happened
find me the text answering this question