BBC News
By Johnathan Amos
September 21, 2023
Nasa’s Osiris-Rex capsule will come screaming into Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday at more than 15 times the speed of a rifle bullet.
It will make a fireball in the sky as it does so, but a heat shield and parachutes will slow the descent and bring it into a gentle touchdown in Utah’s West Desert.
The capsule carries a precious cargo – a handful of dust grabbed from asteroid Bennu, a mountain-sized space rock that promises to inform the most profound of questions: Where do we come from?