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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- As if bursting forth from a cushion of smoke and steam, the Boeing Delta II rocket propels NASA’s Genesis spacecraft into the clear blue sky on a journey to collect and return to Earth just 10 to 20 micrograms of solar wind, invisible charged particles that flow outward from the Sun. The particles will be studied by scientists over the next century to search for answers to fundamental questions about the exact composition of our star and the birth of our solar system. The Genesis_Delta launch occurred ontime at 12:13:40 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station