Stunt pilots will try to snag space capsule

Posted on: Sep. 6th, 2004 || Source: usatoday.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

SALT LAKE CITY — In a harrowing feat high over the Utah desert, two helicopter stunt pilots will try to snatch a floating space capsule that holds "a piece of the sun" and bring it safely down.
If all goes as planned Wednesday, the 400-pound Genesis capsule will be gently lowered at Dugway Proving Ground with its tiny, fragile collection of solar wind particles, which could reveal clues about the solar system's origin.

But first, the $260 million mission will have a couple of white-knuckle moments. The capsule must be steered through a "keyhole" high in the Earth's atmosphere, and if NASA can't line up the precise entry and angle, Genesis will be waved off on a six-month elliptical orbit of Earth.

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