t 2006 January A capsule from NASA’s Stardust mission returns to Earth with samples from the comet Wild 2, the first samples that have ever been collected from a comet.
2008 November Hubble telescope takes the first pictures of a planet orbiting a star outside our solar system. The tenth anniversary of the International Space Station is celebrated. q
2009 March NASA launches the Keplar mission. It carries a telescope designed to identify Earth-like planets in other solar systems. q
2011 March A NASA mission, Messenger, completes the first ever orbit of Mercury. It carried equipment to help scientists map the surface of the planet and to analyse what it is made of.