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Incorrectly Installed Switches Caused Space Crash Earlier This Year - 2004-10-16


The U.S. space agency NASA says incorrectly installed switches are the likely cause of the crash earlier this year of the Genesis space capsule.

Officials in California on Friday said the capsule's parachutes failed to deploy because gravity-switches were installed upside-down. Due to the installation error, the switches failed to send a signal to begin the landing process as the craft entered the earth's atmosphere.

The Genesis capsule, which had gathered space particles from winds around the sun, slammed into the Utah desert last month. Scientists are now trying to salvage the space dust gathered during its 3 year, $260 million journey.

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