NASA lab expects asteroid sample contains life's building blocks

Awaiting you are eager scientists and a gleaming facility.

After it reaches Earth in late September, a sample from the asteroid Bennu will be analyzed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. This sample may hold the key to understanding the formation of the solar system and our own planet.

The valuable cargo is presently aboard OSIRIS-REx, a 2016-launched U.S. spacecraft bound for Bennu, which orbits the Sun at an av....