 Out of the yawning September sky, pieces of the
sun tumbled toward the Utah desert. They were
captured solar particles, holding clues to the birth
of the solar system, and being returned to Earth in
a shiny, 200-kilogram capsule. The plan was for
parachutes to slow the pocket-watch-shaped craft,
allowing a helicopter to swoop in, snatch it from
midair, and gently lower the fragile contents to the
ground. But on this bright morning in 2004, the
parachutes didn’t open, and the helicopter didn’t
have a chance. The capsule spun and wobbled as it
plunged into the ground at more than 300 kilometers
per hour.
— "Snatching Some Sun," by David Woo; Engineering and Science, No. 4, 2007.
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