DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah - A space capsule carrying comet dust is headed for a landing on Earth in a mission scientists hope will ultimately yield clues to the origins of the solar system.

NASA's Stardust spacecraft, hovering 69,000 miles up, released the shuttlecock-shaped capsule late Saturday, putting it on course for a blazing re-entry early Sunday.

If successful, the mission will mark the first time a spacecraft has flown into deep space and brought back tiny fragments of a comet. Most of the granules are so small that a microscope will be required to study them.

The capsule will spin in free fall until it enters the atmosphere and parachutes down in the Utah desert. Its searing return at about 29,000 mph will be the fastest re-entry of any man-made probe.

The Stardust mothership will remain in permanent orbit around the sun...