Stardust Mission: mission and targets
Data as of 2026-10-04
Dates declared by the archive
- Project start
- February 7, 1999
- Declared end
- January 16, 2006
The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.
In Galaxy
None of the targets this mission declares is in Galaxy’s catalogue.
A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.
Description published by the archive
The Stardust Mission, launched in February 1999, was the f1rst to collect and return samples of cometary and interplanetary dust. The primary mission included a flyby of asteroid (5535) Annefrank in November 2002, on the way to the flyby of long-period Comet 81P/Wild 2 in January 2004. The samples collected (in aerogel) were successfully returned to Earth in January 2006. The spacecraft was redirected to Comet 9P/Tempel 1 in its extended mission (NExT - New Exploration of Tempel 1).
Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.
Other targets declared
- 5535 Annefrank (asteroid)
- 81P/Wild 2 (comet)
Source
Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.stardust
NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/