Instead, OSIRIS-REx will continue to drift from the asteroid at a rate of about 40 centimeters per second. “We said our goodbye, I believe, to Bennu on Tuesday.” ...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft scooped up a sample from asteroid Bennu in October 2020, and in May 2021 the spacecraft headed back to Earth to drop that sample off. This week. the spacecraft ...

Just how much material did OSIRIS-REx collect from Bennu? The method relies on something called the moment of inertia, and you can replicate it with a fan and a penny.

On May 10th at 4:23 PM Eastern, OSIRIS—REx bid asteroid Bennu farewell to begin its 1.4-billion-mile journey back to our planet. The probe has been observing the asteroid since 2018 and even ...

Related: How NASA's OSIRIS-REx will bring asteroid samples to Earth in 5 not-so-easy steps Read more: OSIRIS-REx's asteroid sample will come down to Earth on Sept. 24. Here's how to watch it live.

OSIRIS-REx then immediately fired up its thrusters to back away from Bennu. The spacecraft’s sampling head touched Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds before retreating.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft had a busy summer. OSIRIS-REx is currently operating around Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid in an unstable orbit which may collide with Earth or another planet in 10 ...