NASA finally has counted up all the asteroid samples returned by a spacecraft last fall.

After a seven-year mission, NASA revealed the asteroid sample it collected from a 4 billion-mile journey and brought back to Earth last month.

Before it begins the long trek home NASA will send OSIRIS-REx past the area where it stirred up the asteroid’s surface.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A NASA spacecraft tucked more than 2 pounds of asteroid samples into a capsule for return to Earth after losing some of its precious loot because of a jammed lid, scientists said Thursday. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do” to get the samples back safely, said lead scientist Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona. The spacecraft Osiris-Rex won't depart Bennu’s neighborhood until March at the earliest, when the asteroid and Earth are properly aligned. Some of the samples were seen escaping into space, so flight controllers moved up the crucial stowing operation. Based on images, scientists believe Osiris-Rex grabbed 4 1/2 pounds (2 kilograms) of rubble, a full load.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A NASA spacecraft is stuffed with so much asteroid rubble from this week’s grab that it’s jammed open and precious particles are drifting away in space, scientists said Friday. Scientists announced the news three days after the spacecraft named Osiris-Rex briefly touched asteroid Bennu, NASA's first attempt at such a mission. A cloud of asteroid particles could be seen swirling around the spacecraft as it backed away from Bennu. The samples won't make it back until 2023, seven years after the spacecraft rocketed away from Cape Canaveral. Because of the sudden turn of events, scientists won't know how much the sample capsule holds until it's back on Earth.

In this image taken from video released by NASA, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft touches the surface of asteroid Bennu on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. (NASA via AP)

In this image taken from video released by NASA, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft touches the surface of asteroid Bennu on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. (NASA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft crushed rocks and sent rubble flying as it briefly touched an asteroid, a strong indication that samples were collected for return to Earth, officials said Wednesday. Scientists won't know until next week how much was gathered at asteroid Bennu — they want at least a handful of the cosmic rubble. Japan has taken asteroid samples twice. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.