Stardust capsule returns to Earth
Edited by Kovis



After a 7-year space odyssey of about 4.5 billion kilometers, a capsule carrying the first sample of comet dust safely landed on the salt flats in Utah early last Sunday morning.

The Stardust capsule, which returned to Earth at about 02:12 Pacific time (10:12 GMT), is expected to provide clues about the origins of the solar system. Experts with US space agency NASA had been waiting all night when the capsule blazed across the pre-dawn sky.

Stardust, the first NASA spacecraft dedicated solely to the exploration of a comet, was launched on February 7, 1999, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The primary goal of the mission, collecting dust and carbon-based samples during its close encounter with the comet, was completed as planned in January 2004, after nearly four years of space travel.

"It's a perfect landing...we are jumping and applauding," Dr Peter Tsou, the deputy investigator who first put forward the plan in 1981, said in an interview. "I can hardly sleep. Nevertheless I had been waiting 25 years before this night."

"This mission is too important for me," said Tsou, who was among the team awaiting the capsule in Utah. Born in China and educated in the United States, Tsou is a senior researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) based in Pasadena, California.

Now the recovery team has been sent to look for the capsule and deliver it to the US Army Dug way Proving Ground, Utah, for initial processing, Tsou said.

After entering the Earth atmosphere at about 01:58 Pacific time, the capsule released a drogue parachute at an altitude of approximately 32 kilometers. When it had descended to an altitude of about 3 kilometers, the main parachute deployed to further decelerate the capsule.

The velocity of the sample return capsule as it entered Earth's atmosphere was 46,440 kilometers per hour. It is the highest speed of any man-made object on record, surpassing the record set in May 1969 during the return of the Apollo 10 command module.

The landing process actually began at about 21:56 Pacific time (05: 56 GMT Sunday) when the Stardust released the capsule to fall to Earth.

Fifteen minutes later, the spacecraft ignited its thrusters and performed a maneuver to enter orbit around the Sun, while the capsule dropped freely into Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 125 kilometers over northern California.

This January 15 frame grab from NASA television shows scientists examining and photographing the Stardust comet capsule in the clean room at the Utah Test and Training Range after landing and recovery from the Utah desert.

 

 

World in Pictures
Photo source: ImagineChina

	Bank's ice house 法兰克福开出冰窖银行 Two visitors inside ING Diba bank's ice house in Frankfurt Main, Germany, January 11, 2006. The internet bank used the house for publicity during the winter chill. According to the bank the 100 square meter house was built with 1,000 ice blocks weighing a total of 85 tons. The house was open for five days.
	Flush toilets for elephants 泰国大象使用巨型马桶 A Thai elephant demonstrates how to use a flush toilet at an elephant camp in Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand, January 11. The camp owner added this feat to the elephant show to attract tourists and raise awareness of the wellbeing of the endangered gentle giants. Elephants face loss of natural habitat and illegal hunting for ivory in Thailand.
	Live "Statue of Liberty" 美国老妇演绎"自由女神" Sherry Graham, dressed as the Statue of Liberty in an effort to attract customers for Liberty Tax Service, smiles at passing cars in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, January 14.
	Look, no hands 菲律宾六旬老翁用脚弹吉他 Sixty-year old Orlando Malicse, a Filipino street performer, plays the guitar with his feet while singing along on a busy street in Manila, January 5. A genetic defect has left Malicse without any hands, but this does not deter him from earning his keep.
	Ice-diving contest 韩国冬泳爱好者冰下潜水 South Koreans roll on the ice to prepare themselves for a dip in the water in the frozen Hantan River during an ice-diving contest in Chulwon, south of Seoul, January 15. The ice-diving contest drew about 20 participants.

 

 

World in Words
Collected & translated by Beverly

"I want to prove that Asians can also be champions in taming poisonous snakes."
"我想证明亚洲人也可以在驯服毒蛇方面独占鳌头. "
Shahimi Abdul Hamid, a 33-year-old Malaysian, wants to set a new world record by planting 50 smooches on a venomous snake in 10 minutes.
--33岁的马来西亚人哈米德计划创造一项新的世界纪录, 他将尝试在10分钟之内亲吻毒蛇50次.

"The 300 millionth will be a Mexican Latino in Los Angeles County, with parents who speak Spanish and with siblings who are bilingual."
"第3亿人口将出生在洛杉矶, 墨西哥裔, 父母说西班牙语, 而同胞兄弟姐妹会两种语言. "
William Frey, a demographer with the University of Michigan Population Studies Center believes that the 300 millionth American will be conceived this month somewhere in the suburban South or West.
--密歇根大学人口研究中心的人口统计学家威廉·弗雷认为第3亿个美国人将出生在南部或西部的城郊, 这一新生命将在本月孕育出来.

"She goes from the princess of pop to the ultimate fashion flop. "
"她是流行乐界的公主, 时尚界的大败笔. "
Pop singer Britney Spears topped an annual Hollywood worst-dressed list.
--流行歌后布兰妮"荣登"好莱坞"年度最差着装排行榜"榜首.

"What we have here is this fun culture."
"我们所拥有的正是这种娱乐文化. "
Fred Eckhardt, a local of Portland, Oregon. With more than 28 local breweries, Portland is the king of beers.
--美国俄勒冈州的波特兰市拥有超过28家的本土酿酒厂, 堪称"啤酒王国". 对此波特兰市市民深感自豪.

 

Vocabulary
comet 彗星
salt flat 盐滩
blaze 燃烧
drogue 减速伞
decelerate 减速
thruster 推进器
velocity 速率
ignite 点燃