Capsule expected to land in the Utah desert at 10.55am ET and conclude a seven-year trek through the stars

A space capsule carrying Nasa’s first asteroid samples on Sunday began streaking toward a touchdown in the Utah desert to conclude a seven-year trek through the stars.

The US space agency’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the capsule – containing rubble and dust samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu – just after 6.40am ET (11.40am BST).

The Associated Press contributed reporting.