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Associated Press
Update 10: Capsule With Comet Dust Lands in Utah
By ALICIA CHANG ,
A space capsule ferrying the first comet dust samples to Earth parachuted to a pre-dawn landing in the remote desert 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 for the homecoming.
"It's an absolutely fantastic end to the mission," said Carlton Allen of NASA's Johnson Space Center.
A helicopter recovery team was searching the landing site for the capsule and was expected to transfer it to a clean room on the base. It will be flown later this week to the Johnson Space Center in Houston where scientists will unlock the canister containing the cosmic particles.
Once opened, they will find the microscopic bits trapped in a porous, pale-blue smokelike material made up of 99.8 percent air that was used to snag the dust in space.
The dust will be viewed under a microscope and analyzed. Because comets are frozen bodies of ice and dust from 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was formed, researchers hope the comet dust will provide direct clues about the origin of our planetary system.
The cosmic samples were gathered from comet Wild 2 in 2004 during Stardust's seven years in space. The spacecraft used a tennis racket-sized collector mitt to snatch the dust and store them in an aluminum canister.
The capsule nose-dived through the Earth's atmosphere early Sunday at a record 29,000 mph, making it the fastest man-man probe to return. As it descended toward the desert, it unfurled its first parachute at 100,000 feet followed by a larger chute, which guided it to a 10-mph landing in the salt flats.
The mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, cost $212 million.
Stardust's return to Earth was the reverse of the ill-fated Genesis mission that carried solar wind particles. In 2004, Genesis slammed into the desert and broke open like a clamshell, exposing the solar atoms to contamination.
Researchers believe about a million samples of comet and interstellar dust - most tinier than the width of a human hair - are locked inside the Stardust capsule.
The cosmic dust should keep researchers busy for years. They hope to slice the samples into smaller bits and probe them under a microscope to directly learn about their chemical makeup and the processes that shaped the early universe.
The dust grains, believed to be pristine leftovers from the birth of the solar system, contain many of the organic molecules necessary for life. Some of the particles are thought to be older than the sun.
Stardust's comet samples represent the second robotic retrieval of extraterrestrial material since 1976, when the unmanned Soviet Luna 24 mission brought back lunar rocks and soil.
The first was NASA's Genesis probe, which crashed at Dugway Proving Ground in 2004 during a failed mid-air attempt by Hollywood stunt pilots in helicopters to snag it. Scientists spent several days picking through the wreckage to salvage the fragile wafers containing solar wind atoms.
The accident was caused by the faulty installation of gravity switches designed to trigger the parachute release. Engineers reviewed Stardust's blueprints and rechecked its systems to make sure it wouldn't happen again.
Launched in 1999, the Stardust spacecraft traveled nearly 3 billion miles, looping around the sun three times.
In 2004, it flew through the comet's coma, a fuzzy halo of gas and dust. Outfitted with armored bumpers, the spacecraft survived a hail of debris to trap comet dust with a collector mitt packed with aerogel, a porous material made up of mostly air. The cosmic particles have since been tucked inside the capsule for the trip home.
Along the way, the spacecraft also captured interstellar dust - tiny particles that stream through the solar system thought to be from ancient stars that exploded and died.
The spacecraft also beamed back 72 black-and-white pictures showing broad mesas, craters, pinnacles and canyons with flat floors on the surface of Wild 2, a craggy comet about 500 million miles from Earth at launch.
Stardust's sample return is the latest mission designed to study comets up close.
Six months earlier, NASA sent a probe into the path of an onrushing comet. The high-speed collision with comet Tempel 1 set off a celestial fireworks display in space and exposed the comet's primordial interior.
Scientists have been analyzing the voluminous debris hurled from the comet's belly and are trying to figure out the size of the crater caused by the impact.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
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An infrared camera captures a recovery helicopter at the landing site of the Stardust sample return capsule.
An infrared camera captures the Stardust sample return capsule 
as it descends to the Utah Test and Training Range.
Capsule after landing

"All stations, we have touchdown," an announcer declared.

Stardust, a capsule carrying dust from Comet Wild 2, has landed safely in the Utah desert. It also is the first time in history that a space mission has brought back such material.

"The tiny particles that the Stardust mission is bringing back are the most scientifically exciting and technically challenging material that we have ever had the opportunity to study," said Monica Grady of the Planetary and Space Science Research Institute (PSSRI).

When the landing was complete, it drew cheers from excited scientists. 

"It's an absolutely fantastic end to the mission," said Carlton Allen of NASA's Johnson Space Center.

"Everything worked so well. What an exciting moment," said Allan Cheuvront, Stardust spacecraft engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. 

Many reports are stating from skywatchers, that sighted the speeding capsule as it shot across the sky over the western United States. "We saw it in the sky…it was great," said Paula Nicholson, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground.

In 2004, another collector capsule from another spacecraft, Genesis, which collected solar wind particles crashed into the Utah desert, however, the samples did not survive.

After the capsule landed, it activated its locator beacon and helicopter recovery crews successfully located the capsule in the dark. The capsule is reportedly intact from the helicopter observations, and the unofficial touch down time was 5:10 a.m. EST. It will be transferred to a "cleanroom" and is expected to be flown to Johnson Space Center early next week where the capsule will be unlocked for the first time since it landed.

When opened, scientists will find the microscopic dust particles trapped in a porous, pale-blue smokelike material known as aerogel made up of 99.8 percent air that was used to snag the dust in space. 

The dust then will be looked at under a microscope to be examined and because this comet is nearly 5 billion years old, they hope it will unlock some of the secrets to the formation of our galaxy and universe.

The capsules speed when it was going through Earth's atmosphere was a record breaking 29,000 mph, making it the fastest man-made probe to return to Earth. Its first parachute opened at nearly 100,000 feet from the ground where it was then guided to a 10-MPH landing in the desert.

The capsule also brought back with it 72 black-and-white pictures showing broad mesas, craters, pinnacles and canyons with flat floors on the surface of Wild 2, which was a staggering 500 million miles from Earth at the time Stardust was launched.

Stardust was launched in 1999 and its trip lasted over 7 years. Stardust traveled about 4.5 billion kilometers (2.88 billion miles), and went around the sun 3 times. In the end, a magnificent achievement for NASA and science in general.