Photos: Probe, comet send fireworks for the 4th

Traveling at 23,000 miles per hour, a NASA spacecraft called Deep Impact successfully collided with comet Tempel 1 at 10:52 p.m. PT, July 3. This is what the probe saw sixty seconds before crashing. The picture was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.

This image shows comet Tempel 1 six seconds before it ran over NASA's Deep Impact probe. The picture was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.

This image from NASA TV shows shows one of the last images from Deep Impact's impactor before it arrived on comet Tempel 1.

This image was taken 13 seconds after the Deep Impact probe hit Tempel 1. It was taken by the spacecraft's high-resolution camera as it flew by.

NASA scientists celebrated after their probe successfully hit the comet.

View of comet Tempel 1 from Deep Impact on June 27. The spacecraft is still about 3.8 million miles away from the comet.

The path of Deep Impact on its way to a July 3 rendezvous with a comet.

Cutaway view of Delta II rocket used to launch Deep Impact aloft.