NASA Discovery programme spacecraft Stardust passed to within 6,000km (3,700 miles) of Earth on 15 January on a gravity-assist fly-by to place it on course for a rendezvous with the comet Wild 2 in January 2004.
Launched in February 1999, Stardust is planned to return to Earth with a capsule containing dust from the comet and interstellar dust in 2006.
NASA says the craft's "foggy" vision has improved after removal of contaminants on the optics of the Stardust camera.
NASA, meanwhile, has made its first major step towards a new start in its Mars exploration programme following delivery of the Mars 2001 Odyssey spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center prior to its launch aboard a Boeing Delta II booster on 7 April.
It will be the first of a new series of missions following the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander in 1999.
Source: Flight International
