Stardust Probe Flyby

Date: January 2, 2004 • Location: Rome, Italy

The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.

Stardust was a 385-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on 7 February 1999. Its primary mission was to collect dust samples from the coma of comet Wild 2, as well as samples of cosmic dust, and return them to Earth for analysis. It was the first sample return mission of its kind. En route to Comet Wild 2, it also flew by and studied the asteroid 5535 Annefrank. The primary mission was successfully completed on 15 January 2006 when the sample return capsule returned to Earth.