Stardust & Wild 2

[arcticpenguin]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/12/031202070738.htm

Forty-nine days before its historic rendezvous with a comet, NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully photographed its quarry, comet Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt-2), from 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) away. The image, the first of many comet portraits it will take over the next four weeks, will aid Stardust’s navigators and scientists as they plot their final trajectory toward a Jan. 2, 2004 flyby and collection of samples from Wild 2.
...
Stardust will return to Earth in Jan. 2006 to make a soft landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range. Its sample return capsule, holding microscopic particles of comet and interstellar dust, will be taken to the planetary material curatorial facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, where the samples will be carefully stored and examined.

Exciting!

But speaking as someone who has watched The Andromeda Strain, I have to wonder about the wisdom of returning samples to Earth.

Here's the original JPL press release with the comet photo.