NASA’s Stardust spacecraft has a hot Valentine’s date with a comet
We are stardust…
After a long-distance courtship, a NASA spacecraft is set to meet up with its celestial sweetheart - a comet half the size of Manhattan that had an encounter with another spacecraft not long ago.
The date between Stardust and comet Tempel 1 is set to occur on Valentine’s Day about 210 million miles from Earth. Hurtling at 24,000 mph, Stardust will fly within 125 miles of the potato-shaped comet, snapping pictures along the way.
If the rendezvous is successful, it will be the first time that scientists will have before-and-after images of Tempel 1, allowing them to observe any changes on the uneven surface.