Space capsule back to earth with a bang

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

The Genesis capsule, which had collected solar wind atoms in fragile disks, smashed into the Utah desert after its parachutes failed to open.

Scientists were left to pick up the pieces and salvage what they could from the shattered craft.

But first, NASA experts had to gingerly remove the craft from the sand because the explosive charge which should have deployed the parachute may still have been active.

The disks holding the atoms are almost certain to have been damaged.

The operation to retrieve the craft from space was already a tricky one.

A pair of helicopters, crewed by Hollywood stunt pilots, were hovering nearly a mile above the Utah desert, ready to snatch the fridge-sized capsule’s parachute with a hook. But instead the capsule tumbled to earth at almost 200mph.

The €220 million mission was the first in which NASA has brought back extra-terrestrial matter from space in nearly 30 years.

Billions of atoms were collected which scientists hoped would reveal clues about the origin and evolution of the solar system.

Don Burnett, Genesis’s principal investigator, said earlier: “We have for years wanted to know the composition of the sun. In some cases we will be analysing it one atom at a time.”

Genesis has been moving in tandem with Earth, outside its magnetic shield, on three orbits of the sun.

NASA scientist Chris Jones said the capsule hit Earth at 193mph. Part of the capsule housing the specimens was damaged.

“The project does have such a procedure to recover the science, recover the capsule to the extent that we can, (and) learn from this and from the failure that has obviously occurred,” he said.