22 Culpeppers Successfully Launched in Space towards the Comet Wild 2
7 Feb 1999
Cape Canaveral, FL
The Stardust spacecraft, with 22 Culpeppers on board, was successfully launched on a
Delta II launch vehicle from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida
on 7 Feb 1999 at 16:04:15 EST.
Stardust will fly within about 160 kilometers (100 miles) of the nucleus of the comet
Wild 2 (pronounced vilt-2). It will capture a sample of comet dust for return to Earth in
2006, and collect nearly 100 high-resolution pictures of the comet's surface.
The mission, managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, is a collaborative
partnership between the University of Washington, Lockheed Martin Astronautics and
JPL/Caltech. The spacecraft was assembled at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO.
Prior to the launch, a "Send Your Name to a Comet" effort was initiated by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Space Society. More than one million
people signed up over the Web to have their names electronically engraved on one of two
microchips that are aboard the Stardust spacecraft. The names include:
