It's been several months, but NASA has finally prized the lid off the capsule that returned the Bennu asteroid to Earth. NASA engineers removed two metal fasteners from the TAGSAM robotic arm that were keeping the lid stuck and trapping the precious cargo inside. Now the business of analyzing the entirety of the 250g sample for clues about the history of the solar system can begin. It was back in October 2020 that the robotic arm aboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft nabbed a handful of the Bennu asteroid. Space fans rejoiced in September last year when the craft finally returned to Earth, marking the end of the 1.16 billion mission, one of NASA's most ambitious ever.

A space capsule carrying a sample of rocky material removed from the surface of an asteroid three years ago is expected to make a parachute landing in the Utah desert on Sunday. If successful, the OSIRIS-REx mission, a joint effort between NASA and scientists at the University of Arizona, would mark the third asteroid sample, and by far the largest, ever returned to Earth for analysis. OSIRIS-REx collected its samples from Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid, before embarking on a 1.9-billion-km (1.2-billion-mile) journey back to Earth in May 2021. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is an unmanned spacecraft from NASA that was sent to collect samples from Bennu. The spacecraft was equipped with cameras to capture images that were essential to collecting samples from the asteroid during the mission.

U.S. Space Force officials swear in first recruits for the defense branch on'Fox & amp; Friends.' CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A NASA spacecraft is stuffed with so much asteroid rubble from this week's grab that it's jammed open and precious particles are drifting away in space, scientists said Friday. Scientists announced the news three days after the spacecraft named Osiris-Rex briefly touched asteroid Bennu, NASA's first attempt at such a mission. The mission's lead scientist, Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, said Tuesday's operation 200 million miles away collected far more material than expected for return to Earth -- in the hundreds of grams. The sample container on the end of the robot arm penetrated so deeply into the asteroid and with such force, however, that rocks got sucked in and became wedged around the rim of the lid. In this image taken from video released by NASA, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft touches the surface of asteroid Bennu on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020.

OSIRIS-REx became the first mission to gather samples from an asteroid in space after it successfully collected rocky "regolith" material from the surface of Bennu. Now, NASA has released several videos showing exactly how that six-second collection process looked, and the best way to describe it is "controlled chaos." NASA prepared for this moment for a long time, as OSIRIS-Rex first started orbiting Bennu in early 2019. It conducted surveys early on that revealed organic carbonaceous material spread widely over Bennu's surface, particularly at the Nightingale site chosen for the sampling process. That gave NASA confidence that it would collect a sample with organic material, which was a central goal of the mission. The sample collection process was a carefully orchestrated dance.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Following Tuesday's historic touchdown on the asteroid Bennu, NASA has released never-before-seen images of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft kicking up rocks and debris on the space rock's surface. The images are from the point in time when OSIRIS-REx approached and touched down on the surface of Bennu, which is more than 200 million miles from Earth. "The spacecraft's sampling arm – called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) – is visible in the lower part of the frame," NASA wrote on its website.

Stunning images taken from the historic OSIRIS-REx mission show the moment the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid Bennu more than 200 million miles away from Earth to collect a sample of dirt and dust Tuesday night. On Wednesday NASA unveiled videos and images showing the moment the spacecraft pulled off the six-second touch-and-go (TAG) mission where it bounced off the asteroid's surface and picked up samples along the way. The triumphant $1.16 billion mission is the first American effort to take a sample from an asteroid with the hopes to unlock secrets about the origin of life on Earth. The sample will be returned to Earth in 2023. The images show how the spacecraft descended within three feet of the target landing spot dubbed Nightingale on the asteroid while avoiding boulders the size of buildings.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made its historic touchdown on asteroid Bennu Tuesday, retrieving a sample from the space rock that will be returned to Earth. OSIRIS-REx reached the surface of Bennu at 6:11 p.m. EDT in a mission that NASA says will help unlock the secrets of the solar system. The "tag" or sample collection, was complete at 6:11 p.m. EDT and the spacecraft left the asteroid's surface.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to touch an asteroid. It has been orbiting the space rock Bennu, which is currently more than 320 million kilometres from Earth, since December 2018. On 20 October it will take a sample to bring home. The hope is that this material will help us understand more about the earliest history of our planet. To take the sample, OSIRIS-REx will extend a robotic arm and use it as a sort of pogo stick on the asteroid's surface.

OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first mission to an asteroid to retrieve a sample and return it to Earth. 'X' marks the spot as NASA prepares for a historic asteroid mission. NASA has selected the site on asteroid Bennu where its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will retrieve a sample of space rock. Scientists identified four potential sites before picking a spot dubbed "Nightingale" that is located in Bennu's northern hemisphere. ASTEROID BENNU IS SHOOTING OUT ROCKS – AND NASA ISN'T SURE WHY "After thoroughly evaluating all four candidate sites, we made our final decision based on which site has the greatest amount of fine-grained material and how easily the spacecraft can access that material while keeping the spacecraft safe," said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson, in a statement.

NASA's asteroid-chasing spacecraft has released the most detailed views yet of its oddly-shaped target from more than 1.4 billion miles away from home. Since OSIRIS-REx reached orbit around asteroid Bennu at the beginning of this year, its snapshots have brought us closer and closer to the nearby asteroid. At just 1,600 feet across, Bennu is the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. The latest batch of images shows Bennu in staggering new detail from when OSIRIS-REx was just one mile above the surface. NASA's asteroid-chasing spacecraft has released the most detailed views yet of its oddly-shaped target from more than 1.4 billion miles away from home.