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> The Stardus probe and comet Wild 2 - Artist view

The Stardus probe and comet Wild 2 - Artist view

author: Nasa/Novapix

reference: e-son30-01500

Image Size 300 DPI: 20 * 25 cm

Stardust is an interplanetary spacecraft, whose primary purpose was to investigate the makeup of the comet Wild 2 and its coma. It was launched on February 07 1999 and returned to Earth on January 15 2006.
It is the first sample return mission to collect cosmic dust and return the sample to Earth ; the capsule contains cometary and interstellar samples gathered by the Stardust spacecraft. 

Keywords for this photo:

ASTRONOMY - COMET - ILLUSTRATION - SPACE - SPACECRAFT - SPACEPROBE - STARDUST - WILD 2 -