Stardust is the first U.S. space mission dedicated solely to the exploration of a comet, and the first robotic mission designed to return extraterrestrial material from outside the orbit of the Moon.
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 variants ("Light" and "Heavy"). The rocket flew its final mission ICESat-2 on 15 September 2018, earning the launch vehicle a streak of 100 successful missions in a row, with the last failure being GPS IIR-1 in 1997.
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Mission Profile
Stardust was a Delta II 7426-9.5 mission operated by United States Air Force that lifted off from Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA on February 7, 1999. The flight carried its payload on a robotic exploration mission to Heliocentric N/A. It was flown as part of the Discovery Program program. The launch was a success.