The Sample Return Capsule from the Stardust space probe on January 15, 2006 and landed safely in Utah. Stardust had made a flyby of the comet Wild 2 and taken samples of dust from the coma of the comet.
Among the many compounds discovered was glycine, an amino acid that scientists identify as a fundamental chemical building blocks of life. Scientists at the University of Arizona confirmed the presence of liquid water in Wild 2.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft encountered the comet Wild 2 January 2, 2004. That's pronounced "vilt" since it was named after Paul Wild, the Swiss astronomer who discovered it in January 1978 and that's how his name is pronounced.
Stardust was launched in February 1999 to collect dust samples from the coma of the comet, but it also flew by and studied asteroid 5535 Annefrank.
The Sample Return Capsule separated from Stardust and entered Earth's atmosphere January 2006. Samples from Wild 2 were sent to Johnson Space Center in Houston for analysis. Scientists announced that glycine, an amino acid which is a fundamental chemical in building blocks of life, was detected for the first time in material ejected from a comet.
Stardust was given an extension and made a flyby of comet Tempel 1 in February 2011, although no samples were collected. The spacecraft was decommissioned March 2011.
