1 day / second
0.5 AU
Stardust
Spacecraft
A NASA sample-return mission that collected dust particles from the coma of Comet Wild 2 and returned them to Earth in 2006, marking the first successful return of cometary material.
Key Facts
organization | NASA |
orbital regimes | Inner System Asteroid Belt |
learn more | Wikipedia |
launched | 1999-02-07 |
defunct | 2011-03-24 |
launch mass | 385 kg |
power | 330 watts |
Mission Timeline
Launched
February 7, 1999 at 21:04 UTC
5535 Annefrank
Flyby
Stardust conducted a brief flyby of the asteroid Annefrank on November 2, 2002, passing within 3,300 kilometers of its surface and capturing images that revealed its irregular, cratered shape measuring about 6.6 × 5.0 × 3.4 kilometers.
81P/Wild 2
Flyby
Stardust flew within 236 kilometers of comet Wild 2 in January 2004, capturing dust particles from its coma and returning them to Earth in 2006 for analysis, marking the first sample return mission from a comet.
9P/Tempel 1
Flyby
Stardust performed a close flyby of comet Tempel 1 on February 14, 2011, passing within 178 kilometers of the nucleus and capturing detailed images of surface changes since the comet's previous encounter with Deep Impact in 2005.
Defunct
March 24, 2011 at 23:33 UTC
The pioneering comet sample return mission ended its 12-year journey through space with a final transmission before controllers commanded its remaining fuel to be burned until depletion, causing the spacecraft to lose power and cease operations.
