This sounded promising.
DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah (AP) - A space capsule holding atoms collected from solar wind was en route to a tricky rendezvous with Earth, offering scientists the first material NASA has brought back from space in nearly three decades.So how did it all turn out? Not good. Not good at all...A pair of helicopters helmed by stunt pilots were set to hover nearly a mile above the Utah desert, ready to help snatch the refrigerator-sized capsule's parachute with a hook as it floats down at 400 feet a minute, or more than 6 feet per second.
"All systems are go," Don Sevilla, Genesis payload recovery leader, said Tuesday when the capsule was 134,000 miles above the Earth's surface. If all goes as planned, the mid-air capture was to take place Wednesday.
The capsule's charged atoms - a "billion billion" of them - should reveal clues about the origin and evolution of our solar system, said Don Burnett, Genesis principal investigator and a nuclear geochemist at California Institute of Technology.
"We have for years wanted to know the composition of the sun," Burnett said. "In some cases we will be analyzing it one atom at a time."




Comments (7)
Reuters Headline: State tha... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Frank Martin | September 8, 2004 1:12 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Reuters Headline: State that voted overwhelmingly for Bush in 2000 has role in failure of science.
AP Headline: Bush admin drops statellite.
NY Times Headline: Earth pays for failure of Bush administration.
LA Times: Satellite falls in wasteland beyond Barstow.
Seattle Times: Big light in sky scares llama heards for miles around. Council of shaman report " It's Bushs fault"
Boston Globe: Kerry would have caught satellite.
Chicago tribune: Bush drops satellite on purpose to help friends in aerospace industry.
1. Posted by Frank Martin | September 8, 2004 1:12 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 13:12
2. Posted by Brian J. | September 8, 2004 1:45 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Am I the only one hear who's read The Andromeda Strain?
Time for my wife and I to take that vacation to scenic Hudson Bay.
2. Posted by Brian J. | September 8, 2004 1:45 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 13:45
3. Posted by tony | September 8, 2004 3:10 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
someone should have called for a fair catch. *smirk*
3. Posted by tony | September 8, 2004 3:10 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 15:10
4. Posted by McGehee | September 8, 2004 4:27 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Boston Globe: Kerry would have caught satellite.
I heard soundbites today of Kerry giving a speech that was one long laundry list of "I would haves." I kept hearing it as, "I would have created the world in five days instead of six, and I would have done it better!"
4. Posted by McGehee | September 8, 2004 4:27 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 16:27
5. Posted by SarahW | September 8, 2004 4:59 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Mcgehee -
Are you talking about the MTV interview?
I agree with you. I thought he was going to start talking about how he would have been able to make the wishing star real and make My Little Ponies come to life to be our bestest friends. Because he would have had the same clear outline for accomplishing that goal as the others.
P.S. Kerry needs stem cell research to regrow a lung. He's sounding pretty weezy.
5. Posted by SarahW | September 8, 2004 4:59 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 16:59
6. Posted by Branna | September 8, 2004 8:30 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
LOL.... Chicago tribune: Bush drops satellite on purpose to help friends in aerospace industry.
Yes! Yes! Yes! That evil corporate greed rears it's ugly head. hahahahahaha
BOO!
6. Posted by Branna | September 8, 2004 8:30 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 20:30
7. Posted by Dan | September 8, 2004 10:41 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Kerry: This was the wrong sun done at the wrong time and in the wrong way!
7. Posted by Dan | September 8, 2004 10:41 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on September 8, 2004 22:41