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