WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) launched on a Boeing Delta II rocket on July 3, 2002 from Cape Canaveral. The probe was lost after it ignited its solid rocket engine take it out of Earth's orbit and put it on a heliocentric trajectory. After the firing, no contact could be made with the probe. Telescopic surveys found three objects near the expected position of CONTOUR, leading scientists to believe that these objects were parts of the craft. CONTOUR was designed to make close fly-bys of at least two comet nuclei.