March 2, 2001

A Plucky Spacecraft Explores a Distant Asteroid

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

Stuck on a tiny potato-shaped world, 196 million miles from Earth,

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A Smack From Space Linked to Earth's Worst Extinctions

a pioneering robotic spacecraft is phoning home. But the line is about to go dead.

The money for the project has run out. The mission control office is shutting down. And the radio

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