A NASA space probe launched in 1999 February to collect dust from Comet 81P/Wild 2 and return it to Earth. The dust particles were collected on the surface of a paddle coated with a low-density glass foam called aerogel. On its way to the comet, Stardust collected samples of interstellar dust passing through the Solar System and in 2002 November flew past asteroid (5535) Annefrank. In 2004 January Stardust passed within 240 km of the nucleus of Comet Wild 2, photographing the nucleus and catching dust particles. A return capsule carrying the dust samples parachuted to Earth in 2006 January. Following this successful encounter, the spacecraft was retargeted to fly past Comet 9P/Tempel 1 in 2011 February, and was renamed Stardust-NExT (short for New Exploration of Tempel 1). It photographed the area where the Deep Impact mission had hit the nucleus of Tempel 1 five and a half years earlier and also looked for changes in the nucleus that had occurred since then. The spacecraft was finally turned off in 2011 March.
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/ Official Stardust website.
http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/ Stardust-NEXT website.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/multimedia/pia02188.html