NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully delivers ancient asteroid samples to Earth

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returned a saucer-shaped capsule carrying asteroid fragments from the asteroid Bennu to Earth, completing a seven-year, four-billion-mile voyage. The capsule, containing a half-pound of rocks and soil collected in 2020, endured reentry temperatures of over 5,000 degrees and a braking force 32 times the force of gravity before landing in Utah. The samples, the largest collection of extraterrestrial material since the Apollo moon program, will be analyzed to gain insights into the birth of the solar system and the origin of life.