Dugway, United States

After seven years, a space voyage came to its climactic end on Sunday (September 24) as a NASA capsule made a safe landing in the Utah desert of the United States, carrying the largest sample ever collected from an asteroid in space.

The capsule made a fiery final descent through the atmosphere of the Earth as expected with the samples collected from asteroid Bennu and parachuted into the Utah desert of the United States.

"Touchdown of the Osiris-Rex sample return capsule. A journey of a billion miles to asteroid Bennu and back has come to an end," said a commentator on NASA's live video webcast of the landing.

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The sample, which was collected from asteroid Bennu in 2020, is estimated to contain some 250 grams (nine ounces) of material by the US space agency, which is more than two previous asteroid specimens which were brought back to the Earth by Japanese missions.

Sharing the video of the landing, NASA wrote on X, “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 US's first sample return mission of its kind and will open a time capsule to the beginnings of our solar system.”

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Scientists have been hopeful about the sample and have said that it is likely to provide them with more information about the solar system and how Earth turned into a habitable place.

The probe, which was launched in 2016, landed on the asteroid Bennu after four years and was able to collect around nine ounces (250 grams) of dust from the asteroid's rocky surface.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that even the small amount of sample should "help us better understand the types of asteroids that could threaten Earth" and cast light "on the earliest history of our solar system.”

"This sample return is really historic. This is going to be the biggest sample we've brought back since the Apollo moon rocks were returned to Earth,” said NASA scientist Amy Simon, while speaking to AFP.

NASA to announce results of the test on October 11

The capsule was released by Osiris-Rex early on Sunday, from an altitude of more than 67,000 miles (108,000 kilometres), around four hours before its landing.

WATCH | Asteroid dust on its way to Utah

After the tire-sized capsule touched down in Utah, it was placed in a net by a team in protective masks and gloves from where it was airlifted by helicopter to a temporary "clean room" nearby.

The sample will be sent to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday. The box will be opened by the specialists in another "clean room."

The first results of the sample testing will be announced by NASA in a news conference on October 11.

(With inputs from agencies)

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