“At precisely 8:52:46 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), northwest of Bend, Oregon, a fireball will appear: a white-hot dot of light, brighter than the planet Venus, gliding across the blue morning sky.
“This is no ordinary meteor. It’s a space capsule jettisoned by NASA’s Genesis spacecraft, returning to Earth with precious samples of the Sun…
“Once the fireball is spent, a parafoil will pop out and the capsule will glide gently toward the US Air Force’s Utah Test and Training Range, southwest of Salt Lake City. If all goes as planned, Hollywood stunt pilots–no kidding!–will pluck the capsule from mid-air using a long hook extended from a helicopter’s belly. This prevents delicate sample holders from breaking on the ground below.”
…New maps and data files just posted on Spaceweather.com may help observers
locate and track the capsule.
