The objects also are a repository of natural resources and could become waystations for future exploration.

ENGADGET: PSA: Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass the Earth at 2:00pm ET Alt

Crammed with more than eight million objects collected over the past 250 years, the museum's stores are a vast repository of centuries of human history, and human achievement.

CNN: October 6, 2011 -- Updated 1319 GMT (2119 HKT)