NASA continued it's uneven history of brilliance combined with idiocy. Sure, they screwed up royally when they pull stunts like failing to convert miles to kilometers, but then redeem themselves with decade-long missions such as Stardust which are spectacular successes.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060115_stardust_landed.html
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060115_stardust_postlanding.html
This was another (boring, to the public) pure science mission that will more than likely rewrite astronomy for our local neighborhood. It will add fuel to the fire of whether our class "M" planet and Sol-type star are as unique as we believe. I am inclined to bet that they aren't .
Scientists from another age would have probably gladly given their right arms to live to see such data. Much will be answered, and as always when Mankind goes where it has not gone before, much more will be even more mysterious. We nerds who relish pure data can look froward to years of head scratching wonder ahead as the eggheads crack the data and assemble the newest pieces to the Cosmic Puzzle.
Even better, it is unlikely that any new weapons will be developed from this research, so we don't have to worry about disintegrator beams or nova bombs coming out of this, only the clarification of the context of our existence in the natural Universe.
Nice job fellows! This type of success gives me hope that we might actually beat the asteroids to the punch this cycle, instead of being wiped out by a Big Rock like the Lizards.
PS The failures of NASA are a little easier to take when you consider how much money the highly-touted Hollywood film industry loses on their projects every year. The average big-budget feature film actually loses money by a ratio of three-to one. So for NASA to have an average success rate for their projects of nearly 90 percent is quiet remarkably good, especially since they are attempting the Real McCoy, and not just a fancy illusion of reality. For every Titanic or Lord of the Rings, Hollywood produces three like "Pluto Nash" and "Howard the Duck".
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