Capsule, Stardust
name: label: Manufacturer
content: Lockheed Martin Missile and Space Corporation
notes: label: Summary
content: Stardust was the first U.S. space mission dedicated solely to returning extraterrestrial material from beyond the Moon. It collected samples from Comet Wild 2 and interstellar dust. Launched in 1999, it returned to Earth seven years later, parachuting to a landing in the Utah desert in 2006.
label: Summary
content: The Stardust return system has six major components: a heat shield, back shell, sample canister, sample collector grids, parachute system, and avionics. The canister containing the samples was sealed in an exterior shell that protected them from the heat of reentering Earth's atmosphere. The material Stardust returned may date from the formation of the solar system. Scientific studies of the samples are altering our understanding of the universe. One major discovery is that ice-rich comets, the coldest and most distant bodies in the solar system, also contain fragments of materials.
label: Summary
content: NASA transferred Stardust to the Museum in 2008.
label: Long Description
content: Stardust
label: Long Description
content: Comet Sample Return Capsule
label: Long Description
content: Stardust was the first U.S. space mission dedicated solely to returning extraterrestrial material from outside the Earth-Moon orbit. Its main goal was to collect samples from Comet Wild 2 and interstellar dust. Launched on February 7, 1999, Stardust flew nearly 3 billion miles before returning to Earth and parachuting to a landing in the Utah desert on January 15, 2006.
label: Long Description
content: The Stardust return system has six major components: a heat shield, backshell, sample canister, sample collector grid with aerogel (shown here deployed for flight as it passed through cometary clouds and rotated 180 degrees for display with the dust impact side facing toward the viewer ), parachute system, and avionics. The samples were sealed in an aluminum canister encased in an exterior shell composed of ablative materials to protect them from the heat of re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Stardust made the fastest atmospheric entry of a human-made object at about 29,000 miles per hour.
label: Long Description
content: Stardust also carried several other science packages that remain in space aboard the central vehicle. The sample return capsule brought back material that may date from the formation of the solar system. Those cometary and interstellar dust samples have gone to scientists worldwide, and results from their study are altering our understanding of the universe. One of the major scientific findings of the mission is that ice-rich comets also contain fragments of high temperature materials.
label: Long Description
content: Transferred from NASA
label: Alternate Name
content: Stardust Capsule
label: Key Accomplishment(s)
content: First Comet Sample Return Mission
label: Brief Description
content: Stardust was the first U.S. space mission dedicated solely to returning extraterrestrial material from beyond the Moon. It collected samples from Comet Wild 2 and interstellar dust. Launched in 1999, it returned to Earth seven years later, landing in the Utah desert in 2006.
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
label: Location
content: National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
label: Exhibition
content: Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transferred from NASA, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A20080417000
objectType: label: Type
content: SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Aluminum, ablative aeroshell, electronics
label: Dimensions
content: Overall: 86.36 x 157.48 x 81.28cm, 45.8kg (2ft 10in. x 5ft 2in. x 2ft 8in., 101lb.)