The OSIRIS-REx mission launched from Cape Canaveral on September 8, 2016 in the direction of asteroid Bennu. On December 3, 2018, the probe reached Bennu, revealing that the dark asteroid is a primordial, rock-covered world, about 500 m in diameter. On September 24, the spacecraft's primary mission ended when it flew past Earth and dropped the largest set of samples ever returned from an asteroid. The intact rocks will become a scientific treasure, a window into the early solar system that may provide clues to the origin of water and life on Earth. Despite the...

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