NASA's first asteroid samples land on Earth after release from spacecraft
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00:00 They could help shed light on how Earth and life were formed billions of years ago.
00:05 On Sunday, samples taken from an asteroid hurtled towards Earth.
00:09 Touchdown of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule. A journey of a billion miles.
00:14 A feat which got these scientists out of their chairs celebrating the end of a seven-year journey.
00:20 Scientists anticipate that the capsule carrying the samples will contain around a cup of rubble from the asteroid.
00:26 It's only the third such sample, and by far the biggest, ever returned to Earth for analysis.
00:32 It brought something extraordinary. The largest asteroid sample ever received on Earth.
00:39 It's going to help scientists investigate planet formation.
00:42 It's going to improve our understanding of asteroids that could possibly impact the Earth.
00:49 And it'll deepen our understanding of the origin of our solar system and its formation.
00:55 A team approached the capsule shortly after it landed and prepared it for another takeoff, this time for a clean room.
01:03 Eventually, it will be sent to a NASA center in Houston for curation and analysis.
01:08 All those samples will be processed and curated, and about 25 percent will be sent out to scientists around the world for study.
01:15 And all the rest of it will be archived for future use in experiments we haven't even thought of yet.
01:21 The samples were collected three years ago from an asteroid known as Bennu, which is thought to have one day harbored water.
01:28 Some scientists believe that asteroids and meteorites bombarded Earth billions of years ago,
01:33 seeding the young planet with the primordial ingredients for life, organic material and potentially water.