Rolling In: NASA’s Historic Asteroid Sample Return via Space Capsule

“We have confirmed parachute deployment.” “Wow, and after an exhilarating streak across Earth’s atmosphere, we have parachute deployment. You can see just a sigh of relief from the team. I can hear some applause here. You see the reaction there just moments ago as they got that sample back on the ground. The rest of the team members approaching that S.R.C. that has been successfully bagged and prepared to be loaded into the helicopter’s long line. And we have clearance to depart the recovery site. This is a key moment of those recovery operations. We’re already getting that S.R.C out of the landing zone and on its way to the Dugway clean room. In just a few moments, the SR.C. will be back on the ground, its second touchdown of the day, a much calmer one than we had earlier this morning. The doors are now open. We are entering into the clean room and that S.R.C. is about to be moved off onto our clean room fixture. It’s hard to fathom that just a couple of years ago, this sample return capsule that you see here was over 200 million miles away from us on the other side of the solar system.”