#From dust you came stardust plus

The ability to actually see this stuff so straight forwardly. Hair size and one particle a little bit larger than a millimeter,' Brownlee 'The prediction was that we would get a dozen particles larger than human The aerogel features numerous easy-to-see tracks, including at least one 'I had warned the team we might not be able to see tracks with the nakedД®ye and not to be disappointed,' Brownlee said. Particles hitting aerogel at high speeds burrow into the material leaving a Low-density glass-like substance sometimes referred to as 'frozen smoke.' The comet fragments were captured in a material called aerogel, an ultra The canister was collected,ДЇlown to Houston and opened two days later. Sample return vehicle plunged back to Earth early Sunday, slamming into theДЄtmosphere above the western United States at nearly 30,000 mph beforeДЇloating to a gentle, parachute landing in Utah. Wrapping up its seven-year, 2.9-billion-mile space odyssey, the Stardust Whether comets helped seed planet Earth with water and the organic building The goal of the ambitious mission is to answer long-standing questionsДЄbout the cloud of dusty debris that coalesced to form the solar system and Were used earlier in the flight to collect interstellar dust grains.ДЄlong with successfully collecting samples, the spacecraft's navigationД¬amera snapped 72 photos of Wild-2's frozen nucleus as the spacecraft made Just before closest approach, a two-sidedДЎ4-inch-wide dust collector shaped like a tennis racket was extended into Short-period comets, Wild-2 is believed to be relatively pristine, providingДЄn unprecedented window on the birth of the solar system.ДЄfter a velocity-boosting Earth flyby in 2001, Stardust finally caught up

Since carried it around the sun only a handful of times. In 1974, however, the comet made aД¬lose flyby of Jupiter, which deflected it into a different orbit that has The target of the mission was comet Wild 2, which spent virtually itsД®ntire life in the outer solar system. 7, 1999, with aДЇlawless launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida atop a Boeing The Stardust probe began its seven-your voyage Feb. Samples that we wanted and the samples were of a nature that they could be We didn't knowДЄbout the comet, we have no control over nature, but the comet produced the 'The spacecraft had to perform as it was designed to do. Project, including the comet, came through. Mission like this and it's a magic moment when basically everything in this 'There are many things you can worry about on a 'It exceeded all of our grandest expectations,' said principal The Stardust sample return canister has been opened up to give scientists Now inside an ultra clean room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA's Stardust probe returned to Earth last weekend loaded with primordial debris from an ancient comet, researchers said today, providing an unprecedented glimpse into the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS 'SPACE PLACE' & USED WITH PERMISSION Stardust probe loaded with primordial debris This film looks at the highlights in NASA's history from its creation in the 1950s, through the glory days of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, birth of the space shuttle and the loss of Challenger, launch of Hubble and much more. 21 news conference, mission officials and scientists detail the probe's homecoming and planned landing in Utah scheduled for January 15, 2006. NASA's Stardust spacecraft encountered Comet Wild 2 two years ago, gathering samples of cometary dust for return to Earth.

#From dust you came stardust plus

Premium video content for our Spaceflight Now Plus subscribers. Spaceflight Now | Stardust | Stardust probe loaded with primordial debrisД¬apsule release: 12:57 a.m.