The Genesis Mission was a NASA space mission launched in 2001 to collect samples of the solar wind—particles emitted by the Sun—and return them to Earth for analysis. The goal was to determine the elemental and isotopic composition of the solar wind, providing insights into the composition of the solar nebula from which the planets formed. Although the sample return capsule crash-landed in 2004 due to parachute failure, many samples were recovered and analyzed successfully.