Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA Stardust Returns to Earth

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-isn't-that-special dept.

quadsoft writes "The Globe and Mail reports "Dugway Proving Ground, Utah -- A space capsule ferrying the first comet dust samples to Earth parachuted onto a remote stretch of desert before dawn Sunday, drawing cheers from elated scientists. The touchdown capped a seven-year journey by NASA's Stardust spacecraft, which zipped past a comet in 2004 to capture minute dust particles and store them in the capsule.""

5 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Anyway, by machine117 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For my real comment, is this the stardust that NASA (or somebody else) wants to give to people people to analyze because they also grabbed some debris from a recent (and by recent I mean 10 million years ago) exploding star?

  2. Some serious rocket science by AngryNick · · Score: 5, Interesting
    WOW! Imagine pushing the return capsule off your side of the mother ship at 28,860 mi/hr and 4 hours later finding it safely on the ground...in the exact spot you wanted it to land. Mr. Bush, this is how space exploration should be done!

    From NASA press release:
    "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."

    NASA has posted a few pictures and press releases.

    Congratulations to all involved.

  3. Gotta love the press by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The last time a NASA capsule came down there, one paper ran the headline, "Saucer from Outer Space Lands in Utah Desert". Pretty clever way to grab attention without outright lying.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  4. Re:Hey Smarty.... by pnewhook · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Can you imagine Wilbur Wright saying "Well Orville, now that we know how to fly, I guess we can tell everyone to stop going to church"
    Actually there were lots of religious based protests at the time stating that we shouldn't attempt to try and fly. "If God intended man to fly then he would have given us wings" was the argument used.
    --
    Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
  5. The view in Calif* by heroine · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For a good time, go to geocities.com/heroineworshipper/sharpened.jpg. The faint line in the sky is the spaceship re-entering as seen from Antioch, Calif*.