NASA readies for historic asteroid sample return mission.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is set to return to Earth on September 24th with a sample of asteroid Bennu. The sample return capsule is expected to parachute down to a landing area in the Utah desert, where NASA crews will practice recovering and transporting the sample to a temporary clean room. The asteroid material collected in space is free of any Earthly contamination and contains particles smaller than those that survive on space rocks that zoom through our planet's atmosphere, making it valuable for research into planetary formation processes and the precursors to life.