That fireball streaking across the morning sky above the western United States on September 8, 2004, was NASA's Genesis spacecraft returning samples of the Sun to Earth.

When it appeared northwest of Bend, Oregon, the capsule looked like a white-hot dot of light, brighter than the planet Venus, gliding across the blue morning sky.

Inbound. Traveling 25,000 mph, the fireball streaked across eastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, and northern Nevada, brightening as it descended into denser parts of Earth's atmosphere on its way to Utah.

The fireball was most luminous over Nevada. Sky watchers as far away as 100 miles from the reentry path could see the capsule glowing 10 to 100 times brighter than Venus. In fact, the light was as bright as a fat crescent Moon.

Genesis crossed the southwestern corner of Idaho and, moments later, northern Nevada not far from the tiny town of Elko.

No 'chute. A crisis arose at 1554 universal time (UTC) [ 8:54 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) or11:54 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) ], when the Genesis sample return capsule was to have been slowed to a near-halt by deployment of a drogue parachute.

Once the fireball around the spacecraft died down, a parafoil style of parachute was to have popped out so the capsule could glide gently to the US Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range, southwest of Salt Lake City. There, helicopters were poised to pluck the capsule from mid-air using a long hook. The helicopter pilots are Hollywood stunt pilots and former military aviators.

Unfortunately, as the fireball faded over Utah, it became obvious neither the capsule's drogue 'chute nor its parafoil had popped out as planned.

Smack down. Instead, the capsule tumbled wildly as it fell to the desert floor where it buried itself in the ground.

Fortunately, the Genesis sample return capsule was designed to survive such a landing. Also, it came down in a remote area so nobody was injured and no structures were damaged.

Was the capsule's precious cargo lost in the crash landing? We won't know until the capsule is transported to a laboratory clean room where NASA will open it and determine the condition of the solar particle samples that had been captured by Genesis.

Genesis site ( is to was doesn't show much optimism).