NASA Space Mission Brings Back Sample From Most Dangerous Asteroid of Solar System

In a major breakthrough in space programs, NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission became successful. A space capsule carrying sample of rock and dust from Asteroid Bennu returned to Earth safely.

The capsule landed in the Utah Desert. NASA’s recovery team collected the asteroid samples it carried.

Bennu is considered to be the most dangerous asteroid in our solar system. It is a carbonaceous asteroid and has nearly 10 per cent carbon of its total mass. With the mission, NASA is hoping to find answers to how and when life started on Earth.

“After a journey of nearly 3.9 billion miles, the #OSIRISREx asteroid sample return capsule is back on Earth. Teams perform the initial safety assessment—the first persons to come into contact with this hardware since it was on the other side of the solar system,” NASA said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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. pic.twitter.com/N8fun14Plt

— NASA (@NASA) September 24, 2023

The samples of Asteroid Bennu will be shared among other space agencies of the world.