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NASA's First Asteroid Sample Parachutes into Utah Desert

As the Sun rises recovery team members take off in helicopters flying into the Utah desert to participate in the asteroid sample return and recovery mission at Dugway, Utah, on September 24, 2023. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP)
As the Sun rises recovery team members take off in helicopters flying into the Utah desert to participate in the asteroid sample return and recovery mission at Dugway, Utah, on September 24, 2023. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP)
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NASA's First Asteroid Sample Parachutes into Utah Desert

As the Sun rises recovery team members take off in helicopters flying into the Utah desert to participate in the asteroid sample return and recovery mission at Dugway, Utah, on September 24, 2023. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP)
As the Sun rises recovery team members take off in helicopters flying into the Utah desert to participate in the asteroid sample return and recovery mission at Dugway, Utah, on September 24, 2023. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP)

A NASA space capsule carrying the largest soil sample ever scooped up from the surface of an asteroid streaked through Earth's atmosphere on Sunday and parachuted into the Utah desert, delivering the celestial specimen to scientists.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule, released from the robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx as the mothership passed within 67,000 miles of Earth hours earlier, touched down within a designated landing zone west of Salt Lake City on the US military's vast Utah Test and Training Range.

The final descent and landing, shown on a NASA livestream, capped a six-year joint mission between the US space agency and the University of Arizona. It marked only the third asteroid sample, and by far the biggest, ever returned to Earth for analysis, following two similar missions by Japan's space agency ending in 2010 and 2020.

OSIRIS-REx collected its specimen three years ago from Bennu, a small, carbon-rich asteroid discovered in 1999. The space rock is classified as a "near-Earth object" because it passes relatively close to our planet every six years, though the odds of an impact are considered remote.

Apparently made up of a loose collection of rocks, like a rubble pile, Bennu measures just 500 meters (1,600 ft) across, making it slightly wider than the Empire State Building is tall but tiny compared with the Chicxulub asteroid that struck Earth some 66 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs.

OSIRIS-REx is already chasing after the asteroid Apophis, and will reach it in 2029.

NASA’s plans to return samples from Mars are on hold after an independent review board criticized the cost and complexity. The Martian rover Perseverance has spent the past two years collecting core samples for eventual transport to Earth.

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Animal Rescuers Care for LA Fire Evacuees - Dogs, Donkeys, Horses

FILE PHOTO: Jodi Lakatos unloads the last of her 15 horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center after evacuating Altadena as large animals are evacuated from several wildfires, in Burbank, California, US January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Carlin Stiehl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Jodi Lakatos unloads the last of her 15 horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center after evacuating Altadena as large animals are evacuated from several wildfires, in Burbank, California, US January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Carlin Stiehl/File Photo
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Animal Rescuers Care for LA Fire Evacuees - Dogs, Donkeys, Horses

FILE PHOTO: Jodi Lakatos unloads the last of her 15 horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center after evacuating Altadena as large animals are evacuated from several wildfires, in Burbank, California, US January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Carlin Stiehl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Jodi Lakatos unloads the last of her 15 horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center after evacuating Altadena as large animals are evacuated from several wildfires, in Burbank, California, US January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Carlin Stiehl/File Photo

The pitbull mix arrived at Pasadena Humane covered in ash, his paw pads ulcerated from walking on fire debris, his lungs choked with smoke. A good Samaritan found the dog lying in rubble in Altadena, wrapped him in a blanket and brought him to the shelter, Reuters reported.
Still too weak to walk Saturday, Canela was reunited with his owner - thanks to CNN’s coverage of the act of kindness. The injured pet continues to receive medical treatment and is one of more than 400 animals that have arrived at the Pasadena facility since the Southern California wildfires began last Tuesday.
Animal facilities, veterinarians and rescue organizations have taken in and assisted dogs, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep and other creatures that were displaced by the ongoing fires along with their human owners.
The Humane Society began accepting animals as a temporary shelter as families evacuated their homes. But circumstances evolved, along with the widening disaster, which has left 13 people dead, burned 39,000 acres (157.83 square kilometers) and forced at least 153,000 people to leave their homes.
"We are now seeing more injured animals coming in," said Dia DuVernet, president and chief executive of Pasadena Humane. “We're also starting to see people who brought their animals for what we thought would be temporary shelter, but they don't have homes to go back to, and so it's turning into a longer-term sheltering situation."
Some animals bear the scars of the ordeal, like a severely burned Husky with singed fur and burned paws.
“He hasn't had anybody come back to reclaim him,” said the humane society’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Maria Pyrdek, adding that the dog was showing gradual signs of recovery. “He wasn't even lifting his head when he came in. He was just completely exhausted.”
The organization has entered a new phase of this disaster response, search rescue and recovery, DuVernet said. Pasadena Humane is prioritizing calls to help live animals in the burn zones -- including eight injured peacocks.
One man in Altadena contacted the Humane Society for help getting water to cows, sheep and a bull that he had been unable to reach because the fire destroyed a bridge.
"We've been strategizing how we can get a significant amount of water over this ravine and up this hill, so that these animals don't perish from dehydration," said DuVernet.
Throughout the crisis, DuVernet said the community had provided enough donations to fill five U-Haul trucks.
HORSE AND DONKEY REFUGE
In nearby Burbank, the Los Angeles Equestrian Center has taken in around 400 animals, mostly horses but also a few donkeys. Some were brought in by owners who evacuated their homes and others by law enforcement who found them running loose.
The Eaton fire on the east side of Los Angeles hit a region filled with horse lovers.
"People have horses in their backyards in these neighborhoods,” said Leigh Anne Claywell, general manager of the equestrian center. "It’s been a horsey area for a long time. This is kind of where the Hollywood Western was born, because of all the cowboys and the ranches that used to be in this area.”
Some of the evacuated horses appeared stressed when they arrived in their new environment, Claywell said, "but by and large, everybody seems to have kind of stumbled into a routine."
On Saturday, dozens of volunteers helped walk and feed horses and clean the grounds. The center was packed with donations of apples and carrots for the animals and pizza and sandwiches for humans. Smoke was visible from the Palisades fire to the west and the Eaton fire to the east.
At one point, all of the center's stalls had been full. Spaces opened up as some evacuation orders were lifted and owners were able to reclaim their animals.
Karrie Saydah was picking up her two donkeys and two horses that she had brought to the center when she was forced to evacuate her home at 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
"It was so scary, a fire in the sky kind of thing," Saydah said.
Saydah borrowed a horse trailer from a neighbor and headed to a site near the Rose Bowl only to learn it was full. After finding space for horses Zippy and Sonny at the equestrian center in Burbank, she went back with donkeys Midge and Thelma.
On Saturday, Saydah said she was thankful to the staff and volunteers and said her animals likely will miss their generous supply of treats.
"There is so much help and so much goodwill being shared,” Saydah said.