Photos Of STARDUST At Kennedy Space Center

No copyright protection is asserted for this photography. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. PHOTO CREDIT: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration Clicking on any of the thumbnail images below will bring up a higher resolution version of that image. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, closeout and encapsulation of the Stardust spacecraft is completed. Stardust will use a unique medium called aerogel to capture comet particles flying off the nucleus of comet Wild 2 in January 2004, plus collect interstellar dust for later analysis. The collected samples will return to Earth in the SRC to be jettisoned as it swings by Earth in January 2006. Stardust is scheduled to be launched aboard a Boeing Delta 7426 rocket from Complex 17, Cape Canaveral Air Station, on Feb. 6, 1999.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1891 High Resolution JPEG - 1.3 MB Closeout and encapsulation of the Stardust spacecraft is complete.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1892 High Resolution JPEG - 1.1 MB Randy Scott, with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, checks encapsulation material on the Stardust spacecraft.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1893 High Resolution JPEG - 1.3 MB Randy Scott (left) and Pat Wedeman (right) , with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, encapsulate the Stardust spacecraft.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1894 High Resolution JPEG - 1.1 MB Randy Scott (left) and Pat Wedeman (right), with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, check the encapsulation material on the Stardust spacecraft.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1895 High Resolution JPEG - 1.5 MB Randy Scott (left) and Pat Wedeman (right), with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, check the encapsulation on the Stardust spacecraft.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1896 High Resolution JPEG - 1.3 MB Randy Scott (left) and Linda Townsend (right), with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, make a final check on the encapsulation of the Stardust spacecraft.

STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-98PC-1897 High Resolution JPEG - 1.1 MB Randy Scott, with Lockheed Martin Astronautics, looks over the Stardust spacecraft after closeout and encapsulation.