NASA’s Stardust spacecraft’s sample return capsule touched down in the Utah desert on 15 January completing a 4.5 billion kilometre (2.88 billion mile) journey, bringing back material from Comet Wild 2’s tail. In January 2004 it flew within 236km of the comet, surviving the high-speed impact of millions of dust particles and small rocks. The capsule entered the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 410,000ft (125,000m) over northern California before deploying its parachutes.
Source: Flight International