NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) capsule successfully returned to Earth with asteroid Bennu samples today after landing in Utah at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The capsule contains approximately 8.8 ounces of asteroid rocks and soil.
There are currently recovery teams at the site who are standing by to retrieve the capsule once it is safe to do so. Each member is equipped with protective gloves and masks to ensure that the capsule is cool enough to touch and that its battery didn’t rupture, potentially leaking toxic fumes. They will then use a helicopter to transport the sample in a cargo net to a temporary clean room near the landing site.
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Touchdown for science! For the first time in history, we brought goodies back home from this kind of object. This is so hige and we’re all breathing a big sigh of relief,” said Jim Garvin, chief scientist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
