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| | The First Sun Sample Return Mission (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21) |
 | | October 12, 2000 -- NASA's Genesis spacecraft, the first mission to collect and return samples of the solar wind, is moving closer to launch. |
 | | Scheduled for liftoff in February 2001, Genesis will help scientists refine our basic understanding of the Sun's characteristics, and understand how the solar nebula, an interstellar cloud of gas and dust, gave rise to our complex solar system billions of years ago. |
 | | According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, the spacecraft has just received its final piece of science equipment: a solar wind collector made of bulk metallic glass, similar to materials found in high-tech golf clubs. |
| spacescience.com /headlines/y2000/ast12oct_1.htm (935 words) |
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