Stardust (by NASA)

Stardust was a NASA spacecraft launched in 1999 with the goal of collecting particles from the comet Wild 2 and returning them to Earth. It traveled through space to encounter the comet, using a special aerogel material to gently capture tiny dust particles without damaging them. After collecting over 1,000 particles, Stardust returned to Earth in 2006, providing scientists with valuable insights into the building blocks of the early solar system. The mission helped improve our understanding of comets and the materials that shaped our planetary neighborhood, advancing knowledge about the origins of our cosmic environment.