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Special delivery! Biggest-ever haul of asteroid dust and rock returns to Earth

Samples collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission excite scientists with their potential to reveal secrets of the Solar System.
  1. Alexandra Witze
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The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert.

The OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, which contains pieces of the asteroid Bennu, landed safely in the Utah desert on 24 September. Credit: Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty

Dugway Proving Ground, Utah

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Nature 622, 13-14 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02954-2

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 05 October 2023: An earlier version of this story said that Dante Lauretta was the first principal investigator (PI) for the OSIRIS-REx mission. He was the PI until the sample capsule separated from the main spacecraft and began its trip down to Earth. There was another PI before him.

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