Scientists are beginning efforts to retrieve solar atoms from the crashed Genesis space capsule, a day after it plunged to earth and slammed into the Utah desert.

A MULTI-MILLION-EURO US space mission to explore the origins of the universe came crashing back to Earth yesterday.

A space capsule holding atoms collected from solar wind was en route to a tricky rendezvous with Earth today, offering scientists the first material Nasa has brought back from space in nearly three decades.