OSIRIS-REx Returned an Asteroid Sample to Earth Sunday, Kicking Off Decades of New Science

The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert.
Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber.
On Sunday morning, after 7 years and 15 days, the latest stage of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space mission came to a close when a small capsule containing a sample of the asteroid Bennu safely touched down and was recovered in the Utah desert on September 24.