As of Thursday afternoon, NASA said the trapped sample material had not yet been revealed. A “few additional disassembly steps” remain, according to the space agency.

The NASA mission that brought back the samples was named Osiris-Rex — a shortening of Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security, Regolith Explorer.

Two stubborn fasteners trapped invaluable material sampled from an asteroid — but after a monthslong process, it has finally been released, NASA announced Thursday. The space agency already ...