It is expected to deliver microscopic samples from Comet Wild-2, which it will swoop near in 2004, as well as interstellar particles captured near the asteroid belt.

CNN: NASA's Stardust mission develops case of blurry vision

"Ideally, everything will work, but my guess is we'll have some lessons learned and then we'll have over a year to fix it before we get to Comet Wild-2, " said Stardust mission director Tom Duxbury.

BBC: Probe set for asteroid flyby

In 2004, the probe called Stardust swung by a comet called Wild 2, stuck out sort of a big catcher's mitt--I think it looks more like a tennis racket--and hopefully it picked up some of the particles thrown off by the comet.

NPR: Stardust Set to Deliver Comet Samples