[meteorite-list] NASA's Comet Tale Draws to a Successful Close in Utah Desert

[Ron Baalke]

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

D.C. Agle (818) 354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Erica Hupp/Merrilee Fellows (202) 358-1237/(818) 393-0754
NASA Headquarters, Washington

2006-009

NASA's Comet Tale Draws to a Successful Close in Utah Desert
January 15, 2006

NASA's Stardust sample return mission returned safely to Earth 
when the capsule carrying cometary and interstellar particles 
successfully touched down at 2:10 a.m. Pacific time (3:10 a.m. 
Mountain time) in the desert salt flats of the U.S. Air Force 
Utah Test and Training Range.

"Ten years of planning and seven years of flight operations 
were realized early this morning when we successfully picked 
up our return capsule off of the desert floor in Utah," said 
Tom Duxbury, Stardust project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The Stardust project has delivered 
to the international science community material that has been 
unaltered since the formation of our solar system."

Stardust released its sample return capsule at 9:57 p.m. Pacific 
time (10:57 p.m. Mountain time) last night. The capsule entered 
the atmosphere four hours later at 1:57 a.m. Pacific time (2:57 
a.m. Mountain time). The drogue and main parachutes deployed 
at 2:00 and 2:05 a.m. Pacific time, respectively (3:00 and 3:05 
a.m. Mountain time).

"I have been waiting for this day since the early 1980s when 
Deputy Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Tsou of JPL and I designed 
a mission to collect comet dust," said Dr. Don Brownlee, Stardust 
principal investigator from the University of Washington, Seattle. 
"To see the capsule safely back on its home planet is a thrilling 
accomplishment."

The sample return capsule's science canister and its cargo of 
comet and interstellar dust particles will be stowed inside 
a special aluminum carrying case to await transfer to the Johnson 
Space Center, Houston, where it will be opened. NASA's Stardust 
mission traveled 2.88 billion miles during its seven-year round-trip 
odyssey. Scientists believe these precious samples will help 
provide answers to fundamental questions about comets and the 
origins of the solar system.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages 
the Stardust mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 
Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed 
and operated the spacecraft.

For information about the Stardust mission on the Web, visit 
www.nasa.gov/stardust . For information about NASA and agency 
programs on the Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/home .