Sitting isolated in the arid landscape of the Utah desert, its orange and white parachute cast aside, the Osiris-Rex capsule was a picture of stillness.

As the first team members ventured forth, the picture resembled a sci-fi movie, with experts clad in safety gear cautiously approaching as the world watched from afar.

Sara Russell, professor of the Natural History Museum in London who is deputy lead for mineralogy and petrology on the mission, watched the events unfold on a screen in the UK.

The upshot was an early arrival, with the capsule sailing to Earth before touching down on the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) at 10.52am ET (15.52am BST).

The mission’s success was met with applause in the control room, with scientists watching Nasa’s live video feed elsewhere also buoyed by the triumph.

“I couldn’t be more proud … Not only did we bring this mission in on schedule, under budget and delivered more science than we had ever thought was possible with the encounter with Bennu, but we think we’ve got a lot of sample in that canister.”

Saved 79% of original text.