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Mission record

Stardust

Also known as Stardust/NExT, New Exploration of Tempel 1, NExT

NASA · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

NASA's Stardust returned samples from comet P/Wild 2, flew past asteroid 5535 Annefrank, and later revisited Comet Tempel 1 as Stardust/NExT.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Delta II 7426
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Sample return, Flyby

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II 7426

    Earth

  2. Flyby

    Flyby of asteroid 5535 Annefrank

    5535 Annefrank

  3. Flyby

    Close encounter with comet 81P/Wild 2

    81P/Wild 2

  4. Flyby

    Flyby of comet 9P/Tempel 1

    9P/Tempel 1

  5. Mission end

    Stardust/NExT was decommissioned and placed in safe mode

Mission architecture

Vehicles

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 3, 2026