of its kind. En route to Comet Wild 2, it also flew by and studied the asteroid 5535 Annefrank. The primary mission was successfully completed on 15 January 2006 when the sample return capsule returned to Earth.

A mission extension, codenamed NExT, culminated in February 2011 with Stardust intercepting Comet Tempel 1, a small Solar System body previously visited by Deep Impact