Watch: Moment largest ever Bennu asteroid sample returns to Earth as Nasa make history

Nasa has broken new ground in space research with its Osiris-Rex mission.

The US space agency brought home the largest asteroid sample ever returned to Earth on Sunday 24 September. The capsule landed in a training range near Salt Lake City in Utah at around 3.55pm BST.

The Osiris-Rex spacecraft was launched by Nasa on September 8, 2016. It collected a sample – roughly 250 grams – of rocks and dust from the surface of an asteroid, called Bennu, on October 20, 2020.

After further study of the asteroid, Osiris-Rex set off back to Earth with the sample on 10 May 2021.

It was Nasa’s first mission to collect an asteroid sample.