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

From: Dave Carothers <davecarothers_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jan 15 11:40:49 2006
Message-ID: <00b901c619f2$6f430100$6401a8c0_at_WINBOOKJ>

Congratulations to all of Team Stardust at NASA for the successful
completion of the Stardust mission. A great accomplishment.

Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 11:33 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA's Comet Tale Draws to a Successful Close
inUtah Desert


>
> 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 .
>
>
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>
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Received on Sun 15 Jan 2006 11:40:45 AM PST