"This image of the Deep Impact spacecraft was obtained with Caltech's 200-inch Hale telescope on top of Palomar Mountain at 4:00 AM PST (12:00 UT) Thursday January 13, 2005, about 15 hours after the spacecraft's successul launch. Deep Impact was about 260,000 km (163,000 mi) away from the Earth, moving at a speed of about 16,000 km/hour (10,000 mi/hr). This high speed causes the spacecraft to appear as a streak across the sky in the constellation Virgo during the 10-minute exposure time of the image. The spacraft is visible because it is reflecting light from the sun as it begins its journey towards comet Tempel 1. This image was obtained by Dr. Michael D. Hicks and Dr. Bonnie J. Buratti, both at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory".

"Expectations for Deep Impact's flyby spacecraft were exceeded during its close brush with the comet. The craft is more than 3.5 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Tempel 1 and opening the distance at approximately 37,000 kilometers per hour (23,000 miles per hour). The flyby spacecraft is undergoing a thorough checkout, and all systems appear to be in excellent operating condition".