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Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
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Stardust (spacecraft)
NASA sample-return mission to Comet 81P/Wild 2 (1999–2011)
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…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Comet
Natural object in space that releases gas
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or coma surrounding the nucleus, and sometimes a tail of gas and dust gas…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
81P/Wild
Periodic comet with six-year orbit
Comet 81P/Wild, also known as Wild 2, is a comet with a period of 6.4 years named after Swiss astronomer Paul Wild, who discovered it on January 6, 1978, using a 40-cm Schmidt telescope at Zimmerwald, Switzerland.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Earth
Third planet from the Sun
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
January 2
Day of the year
January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 363 days remain until the end of the year.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)