Bye Bye, Bennu: NASA Heads Back to Earth With Asteroid Stash in Tow
The New York Times
The OSIRIS-REX mission will spend two years cruising home with space rock samples that could unlock secrets of the early solar system.
After more than two years of sightseeing at an asteroid, a NASA spacecraft is now heading home. Scientists cannot wait to get their hands on the souvenirs it is bringing back. Beginning at about 4 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, the OSIRIS-REX spacecraft fired its thrusters for seven minutes to push itself away from Bennu, an asteroid that is a bit wider than the Empire State Building is tall. Dante Lauretta, a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona who serves as the principal investigator, said he had mixed feelings about the end of this part of the mission.
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