Stardust is part of the NASA Discovery Program,
a set of missions designed to explore deep space
to achieve exceptional scientific results at the
lowest possible cost.
The principal investigator, Dr. Donald Brownlee,
is from the University of Washington. Dr. Brownlee
is well known for his work on cosmic particles
in the stratosphere, known as Brownlee particles.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics brings years of experience
in space missions to the project. The company
built the lightweight, low-cost Stardust spacecraft
and Sample-Return Capsule.
The Stardust Curation Team, located at JSC in
Houston, Texas, handles the Sample Return Capsule
and its precious cargo of interstellar dust grains
and cometary dust particles.