150.2 gram complete individual (angle with fresh grass imbedded in crust)

150.2 gram complete individual (alternate angle showing small air break on corner with pristine interior)

150.2 gram complete individual (in situ on 2.23.9, the date it was found)

46.67 gram broken individual

When Marc Fries' brother, Jeff, a meteorologist, noted that a dreadful image of space shuttle Columbia's reentry debris cloud was picked up by DOPPLER and mentioned it to Marc, he soon pursued his instantaneous hypothesis that perhaps a meteoric debris cloud could also be captured and employed in the subsequent recovery campaign. Some years passed before Marc, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, could test his theory on an actual witnessed fall, and the Ash Creek event of February 2009, proved his case in dramatic fashion. Shown above is one pair of images which led to the successful and rapid recovery of the Ash Creek meteorite; the top was captured at 7,000 feet and the bottom was captured some three seconds later at 4,000 feet. This was a remarkable first in the field and will no doubt lead to an increasing recovery rate in the future.

Marc Fries holding on to the bottom of the Earth while hunting meteorites in Antarctica

With Robert Ward in the West, Texas, strewn field

With Hopper, the meteorite finding dog

One of my favorite photos -- an image I took of Art Ehlmann on 3.8.9 with a freshly recovered specimen in the strewn field

Maddie in West with the same individual Art was coveting

In situ at West, Texas