In U.S.-Japan race to study asteroids, rivals complement each other

TOKYO -- Japan and the U.S. have separately brought back pieces of asteroids to Earth, with differences in the quality and quantity of the samples. The two space programs are not competing, but rather supplementing each other in the quest to find out how life began.

A capsule that detached from NASA's Osiris-Rex probe landed in the U.S. state of Utah on Sept. 24. Near the landing site, the capsule was placed in a container filled with nitrogen to prevent the samples from coming in contact with the Earth's air. The samples were transported to Johnson Space Center in Texas, where preparations are underway to analyze them.