Im surprised no one has already posted on this:
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DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah - A space capsule holding what scientists hoped would be clues to the origin of the solar system fell to a crash landing on Earth Wednesday after its parachute failed to open.
A pair of helicopters, helmed by stunt pilots, had been ready to snatch the refrigerator-sized parachute with a hook as the Genesis capsule descended. But there was no sign that the parachute opened, and video from the scene showed the 452-pound (205-kilogram) capsule hurtling toward the ground at the military Utah Test and Training Range. The capsule broke open on impact.
The $260 million Genesis mission was bringing back to Earth a set of fragile disks containing billions of atoms collected from solar wind, the first cosmic samples to be returned to Earth from beyond the moon.
Now, the fate of those atoms is uncertain. NASA officials believed the disks would shatter even if the capsule hit the ground with a parachute.
“There was a big pit in my stomach,” said physicist Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory, which designed the atom collector plates. “This just wasn’t supposed to happen. We’re going to have a lot of work picking up the pieces.”
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Watch it here.
Man that really sucks....three year mission downt he toilet....im sure Mr. Weins is going to have a few beers tonite..
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DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah - A space capsule holding what scientists hoped would be clues to the origin of the solar system fell to a crash landing on Earth Wednesday after its parachute failed to open.
A pair of helicopters, helmed by stunt pilots, had been ready to snatch the refrigerator-sized parachute with a hook as the Genesis capsule descended. But there was no sign that the parachute opened, and video from the scene showed the 452-pound (205-kilogram) capsule hurtling toward the ground at the military Utah Test and Training Range. The capsule broke open on impact.
The $260 million Genesis mission was bringing back to Earth a set of fragile disks containing billions of atoms collected from solar wind, the first cosmic samples to be returned to Earth from beyond the moon.
Now, the fate of those atoms is uncertain. NASA officials believed the disks would shatter even if the capsule hit the ground with a parachute.
“There was a big pit in my stomach,” said physicist Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory, which designed the atom collector plates. “This just wasn’t supposed to happen. We’re going to have a lot of work picking up the pieces.”
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Watch it here.
Man that really sucks....three year mission downt he toilet....im sure Mr. Weins is going to have a few beers tonite..
