In September 2004, NASA’s Genesis return sample capsule tumbled from the sky and slammed into the Utah desert in a remote part of the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, shattering the delicate solar wind collectors it carried. The upshot of that downfall: new scientific insights following over 20 years of painstaking work by researchers sorting through the spacecraft’s contaminated remains.

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Leonard David has been reporting on space activities for nearly 50 years. He is the 2010 winner of the prestigious National Space Club Press Award and recently co-authored with Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin the book “Mission to Mars — My Vision for Space...