The American space agency, NASA says that one of its capsules successfully landed back on Earth carrying with it the largest samples of asteroid ever collected by humans. The capsule is said to have landed in a desert in Americas Utah on Sunday.“Touchdown of the Osiris-Rex sample return capsule. A journey of a billion miles to asteroid Bennu and back has come to an end,” a commentator said on NASAs live video webcast of the landing.The space agency hopes to learn how our planet and solar system were formed, as well as the origin of organics that may have led to life on Earth with the help of this new piece of asteroid, called asteroid Bennu, as per reports.NASA announces this successThe official handle of NASA took to X to announce the arrival of the capsule on Earth. It wrote “After a journey of nearly 3.9 billion miles, the #OSIRISREx asteroid sample return capsule is back on Earth. Teams perform the initial safety assessment—the first persons to come into contact with this hardware since it was on the other side of the solar system.”After a journey of nearly 3.9 billion miles, the #OSIRISREx asteroid sample return capsule is back on Earth. Teams perform the initial safety assessment—the first persons to come into contact with this hardware since it was on the other side of the solar system. pic.twitter.com/KVDWiovago— NASA (@NASA) September 24, 2023 Earlier they shared the exact time of the capsules landing saying “TOUCHDOWN! The #OSIRISREx sample capsule landed at the Utah Test and Training Range at 10:52 am ET (1452 UTC) after a 3.86-billion-mile journey. This marks the USs first sample return mission of its kind and will open a time capsule to the beginnings of our solar system.”TOUCHDOWN! The #OSIRISREx sample capsule landed at the Utah Test and Training Range at 10:52am ET (1452 UTC) after a 3.86-billion mile journey. This marks the USs first sample return mission of its kind and will open a time capsule to the beginnings of our solar system. pic.twitter.com/N8fun14Plt— NASA (@NASA) September 24, 2023 Largest ever asteroid sampleDue to the dangers involved in its re-entry, the Osiris-Rex probes final, violent plummet into Earths atmosphere was closely monitored around the world. The landing was live-streamed by the space agency on their YouTube channel as well.The sample, which was taken from Bennu in 2020, is anticipated to contain 250 grammes (nine ounces) of material, significantly more than the two previous asteroid specimens brought back by Japanese missions.
