posted January 10, 2006 09:23 AM               

Does anyone who lives in Northern California, Southern Oregon, Northern Nevada, Southern Idaho or Western Utah plan to watch the re-entry? From what I gather from the article, the re-entry will occur around 2am Pacific time. Perhaps someone has a more accurate time.

posted January 14, 2006 09:22 PM               

Time of Entry:
1:56:42 am PST 15-JAN-2006

Time of Peak Heating:
1:57:33 am PST

Time of Drogue Deployment:
1:58:55 am PST

Time of Main Deployment:
2:04:46 am PST

It's going to be as bright as -7 magnitude. That's very bright!

To go along with the excellent map Philip linked to, here's an additional one.

posted January 15, 2006 04:24 AM            

Drogue, main parachutes worked successfully.
All beacons worked and indications are it has touch downed safely in the Utah desert.

Recovery helicopters now racing to scene of touchdown to retrieve the capsule with its cargo.

I'm pretty pleased since I saw the launch of Stardust at KSC in 1999 as a ticketed-guest of NASA when I did my "The Millenium Space Rock" Exhibition in 1999/2000 at KSC Visitor Centre.

posted January 15, 2006 04:36 AM            

It'll be interesting see any images taken by them or any optical tracker images of Stardust entry over California and Utah.

posted January 15, 2006 05:50 AM            

The capsule apparently bounced a couple of times on desert surface but is otherwise intact according recovery crews.

posted January 15, 2006 10:27 AM               

quote:

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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.

---

posted January 15, 2006 11:02 AM               

I am wondering if NASA is going to sell some dust to the public... I will be waiting!

2.88 billion miles away... hmmm... that would be nice to collect.

posted January 15, 2006 11:18 PM               

What a great couple of years this has been for space exploration - Tuesday we leave for Pluto!

posted January 16, 2006 05:06 AM            

I doubt if they will sell off this dust to the public - too little and far too precious since it will keeps investigators 'happy' for years if not decades to come.

But, it is interesting to note, that over 100 tons of dust everyday enters the earth atmosphere from space.