Stardust

Author(s): toutatis

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Stardust is a NASA spacecraft which conducted the first sample-return mission to comets. Launched in 1999, it visited the asteroid 5535 Annefrank before taking a sample of the comet 9P/Tempel to investigate the crater left by Deep Impact in 2005, of which the latter hasn't been able to do so. A month after the Tempel 1 flyby, Stardust was decommissioned

Launch of Stardust on a Delta II, 1999-Feb-7

Stardust's primary targets, asteroid Annefrank (left) and comet Wild 2 (right)

Stardust's sample return capsule (SRC) shortly after landing, 2006

Comet Tempel 1 before/after Deep Impact, 2011

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