Genesis

Designed to gain a better understanding of our cosmic origins, the Genesis spacecraft was launched in August 2001 to collect solar wind samples and return them to Earth for study.

In 2004, after completing its sampling phase at the Legrange point 1, or L1, the spacecraft released its sample return capsule, which made an unplanned hard landing when its parachute failed to deploy. Still, it marked NASA's first sample return since the final Apollo lunar mission in 1972, and the first material collected beyond the moon. Using the sample, researchers have already found evidence that the Earth possibly formed from different solar nebula materials than those that created the sun.

June 2011: Researchers studying the solar wind return sample from the Genesis spacecraft find evidence that the Earth possibly formed from different solar nebula materials than those that created the sun.