 When NASA scientists were hunkered down at the Army's remote Dugway Proving Grounds in the desert the last time, they witnessed a space probe crash into the salt flats and then split in two like a giant clamshell. With this memory in mind, scientists again gathered at the Proving Grounds to await the return of another space probe, this one called Stardust and bearing the first comet dust ever returned to Earth. A capsule carrying these samples was to be released late on Saturday and was expected to land at the Proviing Grounds early Sunday. Stardust, weighing 850 pounds, was outfitted with armored bumpers, and has survived a significant blast of debris when it flew past the Wild 2 comet in 2005. Scientists believe that approximately one million microscopic comet and interstellar dust samples -- most smaller than a human hair -- are safely locked away in a canister carried in Stardust. |
