Hey, share waivers, Regina Barber here.

So before we begin, heads up that next week is MPR's Climate Week.

We'll spend seven days focused on innovators working to build a better world

for the next generation and the one after that.

On Monday's episode of Swordwave, we'll hear how a robot is clean up toxic seaweed.

You can also check out more stories of human ambition fighting very human problems

at npr.org slash climate week for a spotlight on solutions.

You're listening to Swordwave from NPR.

Earlier this week, a scientist named Dante Loretta was in a helicopter.

In a desert outside of Salt Lake City, there's a big military range there.

Nearly two decades of work have come down to this waiting in a helicopter.

Loretta, the guy in the helicopter, is a University of Arizona researcher

who heads up NASA's first mission to collect rocks from an asteroid.

On Sunday morning, a UFO-shaped capsule full of these rocks

just entered the atmosphere, going 36 times the speed of sound.

And Loretta was anxiously waiting for word that the capsule had deployed its parachutes.

You know, the parachutes that would slow it down and keep it from crash landing

and smashing into smithereens, he waited and waited.

And so I was mentally preparing myself like for the worst case scenario.

I always said, this is like you're the championship game.

You've just thrown the touchdown, winning pass, and you fumble it out of bounds.

That's what my nightmare was.

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