Tom Duxbury Quotes

"Ten years of planning and seven years of flight operations were realized early this morning when we successfully picked up our return capsule off of the desert floor in Utah."

"Stardust has performed flawlessly these last seven years ... and deserves a rest for a while."

"(The research) will involve looking at particles that were kept in the far reaches of our universe in a deep freeze since the beginning of our solar system."

"The science that's going to come out of this, that's going to tell us about the early formation of our solar system, the role that comets have played in the formation of Earth and ourselves, that will unfold over the next few years. The science that this project is returning will be unprecedented."

"We know we can finish our science."

"We feel like parents awaiting the return of a child who left us young and innocent, who now returns holding answers to the most profound questions of our solar system."

"We sang our spacecraft to sleep today with a melody of digital ones and zeros. Stardust has performed flawlessly these last seven years and 2.88 billion miles, and deserves a rest for a while, like the rest of the team."