Stardust logs a decade under the stars
Saturday, 7 February, marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA's well-travelled Stardust spacecraft. Launched on 7 February 1999, Stardust, covered 3-billion-miles during its first seven years in space before returning the world's first samples from a known comet. Stardust's tennis racket-like, aerogel-lined collector was extended to capture particles hurtling at it at about six times the speed of a rifle bullet, as the spacecraft flew within 240 kilometres (149 miles) of comet Wild 2 in January 2004. The return capsule landed 15 January 2006, in Utah, carrying both interstellar and comet particles, completing the first U.S. space mission to return extraterrestrial material from beyond the orbit of Mars. Two days later the capsule was transported to a curatorial facility at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston...