NASA spacecraft will stow asteroid sample to stop it from leaking into space - CNN

The mission team received images sent by the spacecraft last Thursday that revealed the sample collection head was full of surface material -- so much so that a flap was wedged open by rocks, allowing particles to escape into space.

The team canceled scheduled maneuvers for the spacecraft that would have been used to estimate the mass of the sample they collected.

"The team is now working around the clock to accelerate the stowage timeline, so that we can protect as much of this material as possible for return to Earth."

The collection head will be stowed in the spacecraft's sample return capsule to protect material gathered by the spacecraft during its brief and historic roughly 6-second touchdown on Bennu last week.

"This mission is well positioned to return a historic and substantial sample of an asteroid to Earth, and they've been doing all the right things, on an expedited timetable, to protect that precious cargo.".