NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to return samples of Asteroid Bennu to Earth. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center ...

The departures are playing out as NASA and other government agencies contend with significant cuts to funding and personnel.

The much-anticipated reveal has been seven years in the making, from the OSIRIS-REx mission's launch in 2016 to the capsule landing last month. Some have looked forward to the moment for even longer.

Scientists find traces of life’s building blocks in historic asteroid samples New discoveries from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission were 'a complete surprise.' Tom Hawking Jan 29, 2025 11:00 AM EST ...

In 2018, the OSIRIS-REx mission arrived at the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect pristine samples, untouched by alterations induced by Earth's atmosphere, to be analyzed on Earth.

NASA and its partners have published the first wave of information about the samples collected in the OSIRIS-REx mission. "The findings do not show evidence for life itself, but they do suggest ...

In this digital rendering, OSIRIS-REx extends its sampling arm as it moves in to make contact with the asteroid Bennu. NASA/Goddard Dante Lauretta grew up hiking and camping in the Arizona desert ...