What's the furthest a probe has travelled from Earth before returning?

Question

Inspired by this question, I've been wondering how far a probe has been from Earth, conducted its mission, then subsequently returned to Earth.

I'm aware of the Hayabusa and Stardust missions, but I've not found any information on how far away they travelled, either at maximum distance or during the encounters with Itokawa or the various asteroids and comets of the Stardust mission. Which of these went further away from Earth, and was either of them the furthest ever, or is there another mission I've not found?

I'm mainly interested in physical separation from Earth, though distance measured by differences in orbital distance from the Sun would also be interesting.

By "returned to Earth" I mean re-entering the atmosphere, either purposefully or accidentally / fatally, not for the many missions that have used Earth for a gravity assist.

@PearsonArtPhoto TildalWave already asked me the same thing and helped clarify my question - see the last sentence :) — James Thorpe, Dec 11 '15 at 08:35
The Fobos-Grunt mission intended to do a sample return from Phobos. It failed though. — SE - stop firing the good guys, Dec 13 '15 at 08:12
For those who are wondering, the OSIRIS-Rex mission that recently returned to Earth was about 2.22 AU away from Earth when it collected its sample in October 2020 (according to this site.) — Michael Seifert, Sep 27 '23 at 14:38

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 12 '15 at 16:13

The best I could find was the Stardust mission, which went a little over ~2.5-3.0 AU away from Earth before returning (it landed so dust from comet Wild 2 could be analyzed).

There are more examples of previous and potential future missions on this Wikipedia page as well.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 27 '23 at 15:12

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There are 5 deep-space sample collection missions that would qualify. I've included these and their max distance from Earth below, so far as I can tell. Some we have more specific numbers than others.

Genesis- 0.005 AU
Hayabusa- 2 AU
Hayabusa 2- ~2 AU
Stardust- 3.594 AU
OSIRIS-REx- About 2.2 AU

So Stardust, the sample return mission of a comet, is the clear winner, without looking for a more precise answer.

answered Sep 27 '23 at 15:12

PearsonArtPhoto

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Are these line-of-sight distances, or orbits? 'cause a probe in same orbit as Earth but lagging half a year behind will be 2AU away on the other side of the Sun, which is not as impressive as something that returns from the asteroid belt. – SF. Sep 27 '23 at 15:41
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These are line-of-sight. Most sample return missions have been to asteroids in a near-Earth orbit, hence the more boring nature. – PearsonArtPhoto Sep 28 '23 at 16:58

What's the furthest a probe has travelled from Earth before returning?

2 Answers2