The Launch of STARDUST

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NASA launches powerful rockets. One such rocket, the Delta II, recently lofted the STARDUST mission into the nearby Solar System. STARDUST is expected to photograph Comet Wild in 2004 as it zooms by, and return interstellar dust samples to Earth in 2006. Currently, much remains unknown about the size distribution, primordial composition, and even shapes of these dust grains. Above, a side-mounted camera photographed the separation of the solid rocket boosters above the receding Earth.