OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Space Sample Mission

space · asteroids · NASA · sample-return

Left Earth in 2016. OSIRIS-REx launched from Florida and traveled through space for two years before reaching the asteroid Bennu, which is about 500 million miles away.

Visited asteroid Bennu. Bennu is a near-Earth asteroid that's dark and rocky, shaped kind of like a spinning top, and about as wide as a small mountain.

Collected precious samples. The spacecraft touched down on Bennu and used a special arm to gather about 8.8 ounces of dust and rocks, which is way more material than scientists expected to find.

Returned in 2023. The samples came back to Earth in September 2023 in a special capsule, and scientists are studying them to understand how our Solar System formed billions of years ago.

Reveals life's origins. The rocks from Bennu contain organic compounds, the building blocks of life, which help scientists understand how life might have begun on Earth.