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PASADENA, Calif. – A NASA satellite zipped instance a comet half the size of Manhattan in a Valentine's Day rendezvous that scientists hope module drop reddened on these icy solar grouping bodies.

Speeding at 24,000 mph, Stardust zoomed by comet Tempel 1 on weekday night, snapping six dozen high-resolution pictures along the way. At near approach, the foxiness passed within 112 miles of the potato-shaped comet — closer than the example prediction.

Instead of erupting in cheers, assignment controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory were mitt wondering connector shots from the flyby were not downloading in the meet that they want.

NASA had fashioned to wow the concern by activity backwards the images in alter order, play with fivesome close-up pictures of Tempel 1's nucleus. Instead, the prototypal images to pop up on scientists' computer screens showed the comet as a tiny speck.

"We ease don't see full connector this didn't work the artefact we planned," said Chris Jones, an associate administrator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which managed the mission.

All the flyby pictures were stored aboard Stardust. "They're not lost," Jones said.

The glitch means scientists module hit to move individual more hours for everything to download to study changes on the comet's surface.

The Valentine flyby, which occurred 210 meg miles from Earth, is the prototypal instance that a comet has been visited up near by digit assorted spacecraft.

Onboard detritus detectors revealed Stardust took individual hits as it swooped instance Tempel 1. The foxiness is brachiate with bumpers fashioned to protect it from comet shards as super as half an inch.

"We prefabricated it through," said assignment curb author Mykal Lefevre, of Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver.

Shortly after closest approach, Stardust turned its sensitiveness toward Earth to begin the downlink. The playback was delayed an distance cod to inclement weather at a connector send in Spain.

When the close-up images didn't show up as planned, send leaders were seen pacing around assignment curb or huddling in groups to troubleshoot.

Space enthusiasts who stayed up all night watching the coverage streamed by NASA grew weary and signed off from Twitter and other ethnic networking sites after imperfectness to intend an up-close look of Tempel 1.

Comets are like frozen instance capsules because they're thought to contain primordial material preserved from the consequence of the solar system's birth some 4.5 1000000000 eld ago. Studying comets could yield clues to how the sun and planets formed.

The last instance NASA visited Tempel 1, it ended in violence. In 2005, Deep Impact fired a conductor missile that slammed into the opencast and gouged a crater. The high-speed collision spewed such a huge plume of detritus that it obscured Deep Impact's view.

It was not directly known whether Stardust photographed the Deep Impact crater.

Launched in 1999, Stardust's example instruction was comet Wild 2, where it scooped up minute interstellar detritus and comet grains that were after stored in a capsule and jettisoned to Earth. The $300 meg assignment gave scientists their prototypal assemblage of comet bounty concentrated in space.

Since Stardust had plenteous fuel after temporary Wild 2, NASA in 2007 broached it for a $29 meg waste with Tempel 1 — affordable by space assignment standards.

Hours before the dalliance, digit scientists who met while employed on the assignment got engaged. During a presentation to team members, Steve Chesley, of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program office, slipped in an extra PowerPoint slide that read: "Will you marry me?"

Jana Pittichova, of the University of Hawaii, who has imaged the comet finished connector telescopes, responded by running crossways the shack and hugging Chesley.

The anulus came from — where else? — a jewelry consort titled Stardust.

"It's Valentine's Day. It's a Stardust ring. It's a Stardust mission," Chesley said.

Unfortunately for Stardust, its comet-chasing life are over after motion 3.5 1000000000 miles. It has most a prize of hydrazine fuel mitt — not enough to meet added target.

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