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NASA mission successfully touched down on asteroid Bennu
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully touched down and reached out its robotic arm to collect a sample from the surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu on Tuesday. The sample will be returned to Earth in 2023, a historic first for NASA.
Science & Tech
After orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Bennu for nearly two years, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully touched down and reached out its robotic arm to collect a sample from the asteroid's surface on Tuesday.
That sample will be returned to Earth in 2023.
To achieve this historic first for NASA, a van-size spacecraft had to briefly touch down its arm in a landing site called Nightingale. The site is the width of a few parking spaces.
The arm reached out to collect a sample, which could be between 2 ounces and 2 kilograms. Then, the spacecraft backed away to safety.