In August 2001, a spacecraft departed for a point between the Sun and the Earth (Lagrange point L1) 1.5 million kilometers away from the Earth and worked at this point for 29 months, then returned to Earth without landing on Earth. It left 1.5 million kilometers away from the Earth (at the L2 point, which is beyond both the Sun and the Earth) and then traveled 1.5 million kilometers back and landed on Earth in September 2004.
This mission was called Genesis and its purpose was to go to this Lagrange point (L1) and take a sample of the solar wind coming from the Sun and return to Earth.
There were four sample collection plates on this ship that were to take samples from the solar wind coming from the Sun. At that time, scientists wanted to know what happens to the sunlight that reaches us when it leaves the Sun and travels into space before reaching us.
These plates were to sample the solar wind coming from the Sun, to see what elements it contains, in what proportion, and how this solar wind changes in the event of a severe solar storm (coronal mass ejection). Scientists also wanted to know about the cosmic cloud or solar nebula from which the Sun came into being, the remains of which might have been found in the Sun's outer atmosphere (corona).
When this mission returned to Earth, its parachute failed to open after entering Earth's atmosphere and its impact speed with the Earth was 311 kilometers per hour, which damaged its samples, but some samples were preserved and were also analyzed. This was NASA's first mission to collect samples from an astronomical body after the Apollo mission.
The samples obtained by this mission revealed the isotopic composition and elemental abundance of the solar wind and, to some extent, also estimated the composition of this solar nebula at the beginning of the solar system. It has been found to have a remarkable oxygen isotopic composition different from that of Earth, Mars, and the Moon.
At present, there are dozens of missions to study the Sun closely, studying the Sun from space, constantly monitoring space weather, which shows the interest of man in his star.
Finally, a question for you: why did this spacecraft take such a long return trip, meaning 15 kilometers from L1 to Earth, then passing close to Earth, 1.5 million kilometers to L2, then 1.5 million kilometers back to Earth.
