OTD In Space – January 2: Stardust Encounters Comet Wild 2

On January 2, 2004, NASA's Stardust spacecraft flew by comet Wild 2 to collect some comet dust and bring it back to Earth.

Stardust was the first robotic sample return mission of its kind. It didn't land on the comet, but it flew close enough to collect dust grain samples from the comet's coma. This is the cloudy region around a comet where evaporating ice and other particles are blown away from the comet's surface, forming the comet's characteristic "tail." Stardust also took some photos of the comet's icy nucleus before bringing the dust samples back to Earth less than two weeks later.