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" PRE-FLIGHT FOLLOW-UP: Just stepping on the ladder feels different tonight. Boarding NASA&amp;#039;s DC-8, the tension and excitement smacks you in the face. The air is thick with pre-flight nerves that present differently in each person involved with this mission. The scientists fiddle constantly with their cameras and equipment, their light-killing black curtains flutter as people walk the aisle. They&amp;#039;ve waited seven years for the next 3 hours and it shows. Sometimes there&amp;#039;s brief flare of temper, quickly doused. The aircraft maintenance crew and mission directors are outwardly calm but their vigilance is fierce. They either roam the airplane or remain at their stations and check instruments and flight systems--equipment and procedures they&amp;#039;ve screened dozens of times before--rechecking what they know is perfect. They won&amp;#039;t stop until well after we meet Stardust. The flight crew--pilots, flight engineer and navigator--anchor this mission. The flight rides on their shoulders. To the exact second, the crew must deliver the DC-8 to the exact spot over the Nevada-Utah border that, some seven years earlier, scientists programmed Stardust&amp;#039;s return to earth with these coordinates. They know the rest of us take our lead from them, so they stride aboard the DC-8 exuding confidence and control. In the cockpit, their voices move seamlessly in the pre-flight challenge-and-response. From launch until the final maneuvers, their workload remains intense and relentless; they stop only for a few seconds to watch the Stardust capsule flash by the window.  I walk the aisle, peering at colorful computer screens dense with data. The researchers huddle in small groups, talking endlessly about data collection points. I nod as scientists giddy with excitement explain to me how their cameras will capture never-before-seen images of the capsule&amp;#039;s re-entry and what these data mean. The door closes, and soon after, the flight director tells us to settle in our stations. The tower clears us and San Jose spreads below, a beautiful glittering sight at night from the cockpit, but not one person on board cares about that. We&amp;#039;re focused on the sky above the muddy Utah Test and Training Range, the capsule&amp;#039;s landing zone.--Leslie Sabbagh Stardust Part 3 - Next Stop, Johnson Space Center In the cockpit of NASA&amp;#039;s DC-8 on the ramp at Ames Research Center a few minutes before launch to rendezvous with the Stardust reentry capsule on Jan. 15. Clockwise from left: Leslie Sabbagh, pilot in command Frank Batteas, pilot Ed Lewis, flight engineer Doug Baker. PHOTO BY MARTY TROUT The Stardust DC-8 crew post-flight crew: pilot Ed Lewis, Leslie Sabbagh, pilot in command Frank Batteas, flight engineer Doug Baker, navigator Marty Trout, project pilot Bill Brockett. PHOTO BY ERIC JAMES/NASA Greg Merkes, foreground, and Jessie Carpenter operating a high-definition camera. PHOTO BY ERIC JAMES/NASA SETI scientists Mike Taylor and Mitsumu Ejiri adjusting their near infrared spectral imaging camera. PHOTO BY ERIC JAMES/NASA "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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