NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid probe captured photos in the course of the release of its return capsule last month, preserving the historic moment for posterity.
Those images, which the space agency released on Tuesday (Oct. 3), show the return capsule deploying from OSIRIS-REx on the morning of Sept. 24 and heading toward Earth.
“The sun is visible at the highest of the frame, and a skinny ‘crescent Earth’ may be seen on the left fringe of the image,” NASA officials wrote of the photos, which mission team members combined right into a GIF.
Related: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx lands samples of asteroid Bennu on Earth after historic 4-billion-mile journey
The 110-pound (50 kilograms) capsule’s time as a free flyer was transient: It touched down as planned under parachutes within the northern Utah desert on Sept. 24, about 4 hours after being jettisoned.
The soft landing capped NASA’s first-ever asteroid sample-return effort. The capsule’s precious contents — dirt and gravel that OSIRIS-REx snagged from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in October 2020 — quickly made their approach to Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, where the off-Earth material is getting processed, curated and stored.
Mission team members think OSIRIS-REx returned about 8.8 ounces (250 grams) of Bennu material. That is only a pre-landing estimate, nonetheless; the precise amount is being worked out now, and can likely be announced during a webcast event on Oct. 11.
The OSIRIS-REx sample is anticipated to be a treasure trove for scientists to review for a long time to return, NASA officials have said. Scientists all over the world will scrutinize the asteroid bits for clues in regards to the solar system’s early days and the role carbon-rich space rocks like Bennu could have played in delivering life’s constructing blocks to Earth way back, amongst other lines of inquiry.