Stardust

[telfrow]

Capsule located! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Our coverage is cutting in and out here. Just before it cut out I heard they were speculating that the capsule may be under the chute. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Great! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Capsule reported intact. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Capsule Milestones (all times approximate EST on Jan. 15) (<i>Updated</i>)<br /> Link <br /><br />12:57 a.m.: Spacecraft releases capsule <br />4:57 a.m.: Capsule enters Earth atmosphere <br />5 a.m.: First parachute (drogue) deploys <br />5:05 a.m.: Main parachute deploys <br />5:10 a.m.: Capsule lands <br />5:40 a.m. (approx.): Helicopter and crew land near capsule<br /> <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

01.15.06 -- At 5:10 a.m. Eastern time, Stardust's return capsule landed in the Utah Test and Training Range. <i>The NASA TV image above shows an infrared view of a helicopter on the ground at the capsule landing site. The capsule contains cometary and interstellar samples gathered by the mission. </i><br /><br /> Link <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Thanks for the great coverage telfrow. We lost our link over here (+11.5 hours). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

My pleasure. <br /><br />Additional information from the site: the capsule apparently bounced three times on touchdown and came to rest on its side. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Capsule being loaded on recovery helicopter for transport. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>Planetary News: Stardust (2006)</b><br /><i>Stardust Lands Safe and Sound</i><br /><br />Stardust – the world’s first comet sample return mission – landed in windy conditions on the salt flats at the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah at 3:10 a.m. local or Mountain Standard Time / 2:10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time this morning, two minutes early and intact.<br /><br />The first of three helicopters was sent in moments later to begin the recovery operation. Despite having the coordinates, infrared instruments to scan the desert floor, and on and off beacon contact with the capsule, Mike McGee, recovery operations manager, and his crew had some difficulty homing in on the capsule. The range is large and the capsule small, but within 30 minutes they had locked on the spacecraft, and landed. The second helicopter followed minutes later and the third followed suit minutes after that. <br /><br />Word from the retrieval site around 4:20 a.m.MST / 3:20 a.m. PST was that the capsule had bounced three times and landed on its side. <br /><br /> Planetary Society Story<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Capsule in transport. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Vertical One recovery helicopter has landed at Michael Army Airfield. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

For some reason, NASA-TV has ended live coverage. <br /><br />The capsule was in the process of being off loaded from the recovery helicopter. <br /><br />It will be transported to the temporary clean room at the airfield. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

NASA-TV coverage will apparently resume at 9:00 am EST for a post recovery news briefing. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[spacefire]

just started watching the briefing...did they report anything on the samples? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[rhodan]

Congratulations to NASA for this incredible achievement.

 

[yanks1419]

it's here it's here it's here http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html they have a pic of people carrying the capsule oh my God i cant wait until they open it and see if they find new discoveries.

 

[holmec]

Congratulations to the Stardust team for a job well done. I believe this is the first unmanned probe returning to earth.<br /><br />kinda funny that we landed probes on mars but until now never landed anything unmanned back to earth (excluding any manned programs, of course). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[holmec]

Hmm... for some reason I sense YANKS1419 just can't wait for Stardust to return. <br /><br />lol<br /><br />nice enthusiasm YANKS1419! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[holmec]

Cassini? I was unaware Cassini landed anything on earth. <br /><br />The context of my comment is landing on earth not orbit and not a flawed landing like Genisis.<br /><br />I really don't know about the russian probes, do you have any links? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[summoner]

Still a great feat for a return mission. Hopefully this sets some precedent for a Mars sample return. Kudo's to Stardust and it's crew. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:271px;background-color:#FFF;border:1pxsolid#999"><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="height:35px"><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/htmlSticker1/language/www/US/MT/Three_Forks.gif" alt="" height="35" width="271" style="border:0px" /></div>

 

[ehs40]

wow this is amazing i love it when nasa has a big mission day they are amazing i loved the coverage and the can-do attitude i guess it would be called of nasa i wish more missions and launches could happen i love moments like this and then the science that will be done and the new things we will learn it gives me goose bumps

 

[yanks1419]

i think this is the same thing as the Russian space center if its not, my bad. http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

Good work Nasa, JPL and all involved!<br /><br />This damn fool got carried away watching the cricket (AUS vs SA) and totally forgot to watch Stardust return on NasaTv <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Lunas 16, 20 and 24 returned core samples of the lunar surface in 1970, 72, and 76, respectively.<br /><br />There were a number of unccessful attepts as well, at least one of these returned surface data without being able to return.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>