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Delta 7425-9.5 | Contour

Contour

Launch Successful

Launch Details

Date: 3 July 2002, 06:47 am UTC

Rocket: Delta II (Delta)

Provider: United States Air Force

Mission

Type: Heliophysics

Orbit: Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Pad: Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Mission Description

The CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus Tour) probe, built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), began its five year mission to explore three comets, using repeated encounters with the earth to modify its orbit in order to reach each target.