They have literally found the metaphorical needle in the haystack.

Yes, but a bit overblown. They left out the part where the needle was glowing with highly penetrating radiation, 1000 times brighter than the hay, and everything - needle and haystack - was spread out along a known path. It looks like they did a great job, but for a crew with the right equipment, the capsule wasn't very well hidden.

“Literally” has been abused for emphasis for centuries, apparently:

… yet the wretch, absorbed in his victuals, and naturally of an unutterable dullness, did not make a single remark during dinner, whereas I literally blazed with wit. - William Makepeace Thackeray, Punch, 30 Oct. 1847