(Photo by Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images)
(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) A NASA spacecraft currently 200 million miles away has tucked asteroid samples in a capsule to return to Earth after losing some other samples, according to an Associated Press report.
The Osiris-Rex spacecraft gathered small samples of the asteroid Bennu last week with its robot arm. Scientists estimate that it collected more than 100 grams -- too much for the arm to handle. The rocks got stuck in the container and jammed it open, spilling much of its contents.
Osiris-Rex will not come back to Earth with its samples until 2023. This is the first NASA mission to go collect asteroid samples. Bennu was specifically targeted because it is believed to hold the building blocks of our solar system, which could provide clues on how our solar system was formed and possibly how Earth was formed.
Bennu is round and larger than the Empire State Building.