NASA’s first deep space asteroid samples parachuted into the Utah desert on Sunday to complete their seven-year journey. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft released a sample capsule from a distance of 63,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) as it passed by Earth. The small capsule landed four hours later at a remote military site as the mother ship headed for another asteroid.

“We’re landing!” Mission rescue operations were announced and the news was immediately repeated as the landing occurred three minutes early. Officials later said the orange-striped parachute opened four times higher than expected (about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters)) based on the rate of deceleration.

To everyone’s relief, the capsule was intact and unbroken, and the 4.5 billion-year-old samples were protected from contamination. Within two hours of landing, the capsule was lifted by helicopter to a temporary clean room at the Utah Department of Defense Test and Training Range.

“‘Wow!’ “It’s just amazing,” said NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who is training in Utah for her own space capsule mission. “It may be because of the movies, but it’s the truth.”

Scientists estimate that the capsule contains at least a cup of debris from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but they won’t know for sure until the container is opened in a day or two. Some were blown away during collection three years ago when the spacecraft collected so much material that it jammed the canister lid.

Japan was the only other country to collect about a teaspoon of samples during two asteroid missions.

The pebbles and dust delivered Sunday represent the largest cargo to arrive from beyond the moon. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the samples, preserved building blocks from the beginning of our solar system, will help scientists better understand how the Earth and life formed and provide “an extraordinary understanding” of 4.5 billion years ago.

In 2016, the Osiris-Rex mothership completed a $1 billion mission. It reached Bennu two years later, and in 2020 used a long vacuum cleaner to collect the remains from a small, round space rock. By the time it returned, the spacecraft had traveled 4 billion miles (6.2 billion kilometers).

Flight controllers from spacecraft developer Lockheed Martin gave a standing ovation during the descent from its base in Colorado. A NASA camera showed the charred capsule upside down on the sand, its parachute removed and strewn nearby as the rescue team moved in by helicopters.

British astronomer Daniel Brown, who was not involved in the mission, said he expected “big things” from NASA’s largest sample return since the Apollo moon landing more than half a century ago. With these asteroid samples from Nottingham Trent University, “we are getting closer to understanding its early chemistry, the formation of water and the molecules on which life depends,” he added.

A member of Osiris-Rex rehearses in England ahead of his concert tour. “My heart goes out to you as this precious sample has been found,” Queen lead guitarist Brian May, who is also an astrophysicist, said in a pre-recorded message. “Happy sample return day.”

The samples will be delivered to a new laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday morning. The building currently stores hundreds of pounds (kilograms) of moon rock collected by Apollo astronauts.

Mission scientist Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona will accompany the samples to Texas. Before landing, he said the container’s unveiling in Houston would be “a moment of truth” given the uncertainty about the amount inside.

Engineers estimate that the box holds 250 grams (8.82 oz) of material from Bennu, plus or minus 100 grams (plus or minus 3.53 oz). Even at the lowest level, he could easily exceed minimum mission requirements, Lauretta said.

NASA chief curator Nicole Lanning said it would take several weeks to obtain accurate measurements.

Bennu currently orbits the Sun, 50 million miles (81 million kilometers) from Earth. It is about one-third of a mile (half a kilometer) in diameter, roughly the size of the Empire State Building, but shaped like a mile. It is believed to be part of a much larger asteroid.

During a two-year study, Osiris-Rex discovered that Bennu was a debris pile filled with rocks and craters. The surface was so loose that the spacecraft’s vacuum arm sank a foot or two (0.5 meters) inside the asteroid, sucking up more material than expected.

These close observations may come in handy by the end of the next century. Bennu is expected to come dangerously close to Earth in 2182; Maybe close enough to hit. According to Lauretta, the data collected by Osiris-Rex will be helpful in any attempt to divert the asteroid.

This was the third NASA example to return to deep space from a robotic mission. The Genesis spacecraft dropped pieces of the solar wind in 2004, but the samples were compromised when the parachute failed and the capsule crashed into Earth. The Stardust spacecraft successfully sent back comet dust in 2006.

NASA’s plans to return samples to Mars have been put on hold after an independent panel of experts criticized the cost and complexity. Mars rover Perseverance has spent the last two years collecting core samples to transport further to Earth.