New first for space research after six-billion-kilometre journey

estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won't know for sure until the container is opened. Some spilled and floated away when the spacecraft scooped up too much and rocks jammed the container's lid during collection three years ago.This illustration provided by NASA depicts the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at the asteroid Bennu.

The pebbles and dust delivered on Sunday represent the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved building blocks from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, the samples will help scientists better understand how Earth and life formed.It reached Bennu two years later and, using a long stick vacuum, grabbed rubble from the small roundish space rock in 2020. By the time it returned, the spacecraft had logged 6.2 billion kilometres.

The mission's lead scientist, Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, will accompany the samples to Texas. The opening of the container in Houston in the next day or two will be "the real moment of truth", given the uncertainty over the amount inside, he said ahead of the landing.The asteroid sample from the Osiris-Rex spacecraft floats towards Earth on Sunday, September 24, 2023.

Currently orbiting the sun 81 million kilometres from Earth, Bennu is about half a kilometre across, roughly the size of the Empire State Building but shaped like a spinning top. It's believed to be the broken fragment of a much larger asteroid.This undated image provided by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu seen from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

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