R.I.P. Stardust: NASA Comet-Visiting Spacecraft Ends 12-Year Mission

LITTLETON, Colo. – You could call it assisted suicide in space. NASA’s comet-visiting Stardust spacecraft was purposely put to death today by those that had provided tender loving care to the probe for more than 12 years.

After visiting two comets (and returning pieces of one to Earth) and traveling nearly 5.7 billion miles (9.1 billion kilometers), the Stardust spacecraft is at journey's end.

But even in its death throes, Stardust will yield valuable data for spacecraft engineers. Ground controllers commanded the spacecraft to fire up its four rocket thrusters one last time to use up its remaining fuel today (March 24). Engineers watched closely while the probe's propellant tank ran dry to help future missions gauge their fuel reserves more precisely.

Stardust's demise comes after a long track record of scientific feats achieved by the Discovery-class mission.

A tale of two comets

NASA launched Stardust in 1999 on a $300 million mission to snatch up the first samples of a comet. The probe flew by the asteroid 5535 Annefrank in November 2002 and later zipped by comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2") in January 2004, flying through the comet’s coma and snagging particles from that object.

Two years later, Stardust dutifully ejected its sample-carrying capsule to Earth, with that canister parachuting into the Utah Test and Training Range in the Utah desert.

But the hard-working Stardust probe wasn't done yet.

NASA recycled the spacecraft for a new $29 million mission to rendezvous with the comet Tempel 1 – a comet already visited by the agency's Deep Impact mission in 2005.

Stardust flew by Tempel 1 on Feb. 14 — Valentine's Day — and snapped photos of the scar left behind by a Deep Impact probe that was intentionally crashed into the comet to determine its composition.

But with those achievements behind it, it's time for Stardust to rest in peace.