NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft DEC 31 2007 aimed back at us Earth for gravity assist_now called epoxi_WTF WHY new mame?

[link to www.spaceweather.com]

SPACECRAFT FLYBY: NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, which blasted a hole in Comet Tempel 1 in 2005, is en route to another comet, Hartley 2, for a less violent examination in 2010. First, though, the spacecraft now known as EPOXI must fly by Earth for a gravity assist. Closest approach takes place on Dec. 31, 2007, and may be observed through backyard telescopes in Australia and southeast Asia