PASADENA, Calif., May 6 (UPI) -- A team of U.S. stunt pilots plans to catch a falling space capsule next fall that contains samples collected from the solar wind.
Before the capsule hits the dirt, the stunt pilots will snatch it from the sky using an 18-foot pole and hook suspended below their helicopters, BBC News reported Thursday.
The capsule attempted to collect each kind of solar wind -- fast, slow and coronal mass ejection -- via exposed ceramic tiles contained on its carrier satellite, but a hard impact when it returns to Earth could shatter the fragile tiles and mix up the samples.
The catch is supposed to occur at an altitude of 7,000 feet, said mission scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On of the helicopters will lower its boom and move in for capture. The pole will scrape over the top of the capsule's parachute, collapsing and snagging it and the capsule.
