NASA has just retrieved America\u2019s first asteroid sample, bringing to an end a mission that began more than seven years ago \u2014 and signaling the start of a new chapter in astronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture perfect:<\/strong> Asteroids are remnants of the material from which our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago. There are more than 1.3 million of them in the solar system, and in September 2016, NASA launched the \u201cOSIRIS-REx\u201d mission to retrieve a sample from an asteroid named Bennu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October 2020, the spacecraft successfully touched down on the asteroid<\/a> to collect its sample, and after a three-year journey back to Earth, the capsule carrying the precious cargo landed as planned in a Utah desert on September 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCongratulations to the OSIRIS-REx team on a picture-perfect mission \u2014 the first American asteroid sample return in history,\u201d said<\/a> NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n