Coach Natural

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/95264/the_big_natural2.jpg"></center><p>Looks like it landed perfectly. You had mentioned that you had a stake in this program.

Curious about your role there ?

skiracer

I was in the Utah desert for the return of the Stardust SRC last Sunday morning. I was not out in the helicopters for this recovery- I would only need to go out to the landing site if there was a problem. I got to see the capsule enter the atmosphere-what an amazing sight! The biggest, brightest meteor you've ever seen heading straight for you! Anyway, I did participate in the operations in the clean room where we opened the capsule, inspected everything, and removed the sample canister that contains the captured particles. This photo is on many of the news websites, and the arrow points to my hand ;-).

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/24433/my_hand_stardust.jpg">

It was a long wait (7 years to be exact) to see if our work would pay off, and it appears to have paid off handsomly. The sample capsule was transported to Johnson Space Center in Houston today, and should be opened tomorrow to see exactly how successful the particle capture was. I am indeed very lucky to have been able to participate in this effort.<ul><li><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/14/tech/main1209867.shtml">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/14/tech/main1209867.shtml</a</li></ul>

escapA8

Very cool project. Congrats! Yeah, that does look like your hand is in that glove. ;-)

ohbw

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/images.jpg"></center><p>Did a solo recovery from the top of the big willow in the backyard, too. (Timmy Morgan got called for dinner right in the middle of the fueling stage -- parents interrupting a promising aerospace career for pork chops and applesauce, what the heck were they thinking?)

Cool, Ski! We expect cosmic secrets to be scooped on Audiworld first.

JimR

There were a bunch of folks on the live thread for the re-entry / recovery on FreeRepublic.

PaulW

Congrats Doug!

A8-fan

That is very cool. Kind of makes me think of a movie called "Andromeda Strain" though ...

Am anxiously waiting to hear some scientific findings from this experiment. Is there a NASA link or sometihng like that we can follow for updates?

skiracer

This is likely the best site for current updates..<ul><li><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/main/index.html">http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/main/index.html</a</li></ul>

skiracer

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it ;-)

Mikalai

Great job!