FILE - This illustration provided by NASA depicts the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at the asteroid Bennu. On Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, the spacecraft will fly by Earth and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.
Sunday's landing concludes a 4 billion-mile journey highlighted by the rendezvous with the carbon-rich Bennu, a unique pogo stick-style touchdown and sample grab, a jammed lid that sent some of the stash spilling into space, and now the return of NASA’s first asteroid samples. . As samples drifted off into space, Lauretta and his team scrambled to get the remaining material into the capsule. The exact amount inside won’t be known until the container is opened.Discovered in 1999, Bennu is believed to be a remnant of a much larger asteroid that collided with another space rock. It’s barely one-third of a mile wide, roughly the height of the Empire State Building, and its black rugged surface is packed with boulders.
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