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. In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the spacecraft Stardust is on display for a media presentation. Stardust is targeted for launch on Feb. 6 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Station. The spacecraft is destined for a close encounter with the comet Wild 2 in January 2004. Using a silicon-based substance called aerogel, Stardust will capture comet particles flying off the nucleus of the comet. The spacecraft also will bring back samples of interstellar dust. These materials consist of ancient pre-solar interstellar grains and other remnants left over from the formation of the solar system. Scientists expect their analysis to provide important insights into the evolution of the sun and planets and possibly into the origin of life itself. The collected samples will return to Earth in a sample return capsule (the white-topped, blunt-nosed cone seen on the top of the spacecraft) to be jettisoned as Stardust swings by Earth in January 2006.
STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-99PC-93 High Resolution JPEG - 1.1 MB The cover is removed from the Stardust spacecraft in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility prior to a media presentation.	STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-99PC-94 High Resolution JPEG - 1.1 MB In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, the spacecraft Stardust is on display for a media presentation.
STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-99PC-95 High Resolution JPEG - 1.5 MB In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, Casey McClellan (right), with Lockheed Martin, and an unidentified worker look over the spacecraft Stardust before a media presentation.	STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-99PC-96 High Resolution JPEG - 1.2 MB In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, media representatives, dressed in protective suits, are updated by Project Manager Richard Grammier (center, top), with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about the Stardust spacecraft (in the background).
STARDUST Spacecraft Photo Number: KSC-99PC-97 High Resolution JPEG - 1.2 MB In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, Casey McClellan (left) and Denise Kato (right), with Lockheed Martin, prepare the spacecraft Stardust for a media presentation.