[meteorite-list] Cassini and Stardust "firsts"

[Ron Baalke]

> >>...That Phoebe likely comes from the Kuiper belt and
> not from the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt is another
> "first" for the Cassini mission, Brown noted. Cassini
> has become the first spacecraft to flyby a Kuiper belt
> object, he said...
> 
> MexicoDoug wrote:
> 
> Congratulations to this group, big time, what a feat
> and imaging going over the spoils of victory !!  ...
> though it may have slipped by or not considered (??)
> Voyager 2's 40,000 km flyby of Triton a "Kuiper"
> object, but if this were really a "first" prize for
> Cassini, then what would that be for Stardust's 
> Wild(2) daring 236 km flyby?, chopped liver? :)  
> 

Yes, a number of people noted this as well. I had 
already sent this email off to the media relations people:

Hmmm...so the Voyager 2 flyby of Phoebe in 1981 doesn't count?
Like Phoebe, there is another captured Kuiper Belt object that has been 
visited before: Triton.  Voyager 2 flew by this Neptune satellite in 1989. 
Former Kuiper Belt objects would also include short-period 
comets.  So, here's a list including comets and captured objects:

1981 - Phoebe - Voyager 2
1985 - Comet Grigg-Skjellerup - ICE
1986 - Comet Halley - Giotto
1989 - Triton - Voyager 2
2001 - Comet Borrelly - Deep Space 1
2004 - Comet Wild 2 - Stardust
2004 - Phoebe - Cassini

I don't think the list is quite complete, there may be
additional Voyager 1 & 2 encounters with the smaller moons of 
Jupiter and Saturn in retrograde orbit.

Except for ICE & Giotto's 1992 encounter, images were obtained by 
each spacecraft for their respective encounter. Of these, Stardust 
has the honor of making the closest flyby of a Kuiper Belt object - 
236 km.

Ron Baalke