Which spacecraft returned the first US asteroid samples to Earth?

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned the first United States asteroid samples to Earth on September 24, 2023.

OSIRIS-REx launched in 2016 and reached the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in 2018. After surveying the asteroid, it collected material from the surface in October 2020 using a touch-and-go maneuver. The spacecraft briefly contacted Bennu, fired nitrogen gas to disturb the loose surface material, and captured some of that material in its sample collector.

The return capsule landed in Utah in 2023. Scientists are studying the samples because Bennu is a primitive carbon-rich asteroid whose material preserves clues about the early Solar System. The mission also found evidence of water-bearing minerals on Bennu.

Japan’s Hayabusa mission returned the first asteroid samples overall, from Itokawa, in 2010. OSIRIS-REx was the first American asteroid sample-return mission, so those two milestones should not be confused.