A NASA probe is about to launch on a mission to sample an asteroid
 

A NASA probe is about to launch on a mission to sample an asteroid
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NASA wants to snag a piece of an asteroid, and a new mission launching Thursday is designed to do just that.*

The space agency's uncrewed OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will speed toward a meet up with the giant asteroid Bennu after its launch, expected at 7:05 p.m. ET Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.*

It will take seven years for the spacecraft to reach the asteroid.*

SEE ALSO: NASA sends spacecraft to asteroid for answers about birth of our solar system


The mission, a first of its kind for NASA but the third such mission launched worldwide in the last 15 years, should deliver a sample of the asteroid back to Earth by 2023, potentially revealing more about the origins of our planet — and even life — than ever before. Read more...

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