On March 7, 2018, NASA planetary scientist Marc Fries watched on a weather radar as meteorites plunged into the Pacific Ocean. Four months later, on July 2, Fries and a group of marine researchers plan to pull these meteorites — chunks of primordial space rocks — out of the sea. No one has ever retrieved a meteorite from the ocean before, he said. But the effort is well worth it. These particular space rocks, he said, are different. “This one is special,” said Fries, in an interview. “This one is tougher than your typical meteor.”