terryr
09-08-2004, 10:53 PM
DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah - MSNBC - 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.
-Notice it is from Dugway, and it dug it's way into the ground?-
Also, the budget to fix the Shuttle is now at $2.2 Billion, and the list isn't finished yet.
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.
-Notice it is from Dugway, and it dug it's way into the ground?-
Also, the budget to fix the Shuttle is now at $2.2 Billion, and the list isn't finished yet.