Which NASA mission returned dust from Comet Wild 2 to Earth?
Answer
Stardust
NASA’s Stardust mission returned dust from Comet Wild 2 to Earth.
Launched in February 1999, Stardust flew through the coma of Comet Wild 2 in January 2004. It captured comet particles in a lightweight material called aerogel, designed to slow the grains without destroying them. The return capsule landed in Utah on January 15, 2006.
The samples showed that Comet Wild 2 contained both primitive material and minerals formed near the young Sun, challenging simple ideas that comets are made only of unchanged outer-Solar-System material. Stardust also collected particles from interstellar space during its extended mission. Genesis, by contrast, returned solar-wind collectors, while Deep Impact released an impactor into Comet Tempel 1.