NASA capsule containing asteroid sample lands on Earth
(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A NASA capsule containing precious asteroid samples from space is back on Earth Sunday.
This marks the first time the agency has brought asteroid samples to Earth.
Touchdown was confirmed in the Utah desert just before 11:00am Mountain Time, after the samples gathered from the Bennu asteroid were released from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and made the 63,000 mile journey to earth.
The asteroid is estimated to have formed in the first 10 million years of the solar system's existence, and its samples could help scientists unlock secrets about the solar system and how it came to be, including how life emerged on this planet.
After it is recovered, the capsule was transported to a temporary clean room on the military range before being flown to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
