Launch of OSIRIS-REx

OSIRIS-REx was a NASA mission to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, designed to collect a sample from its surface and return it to Earth. The spacecraft reached Bennu in 2018, mapped it in detail, and in October 2020 touched the surface briefly to collect material with a robotic arm. It left Bennu in 2021, and in September 2023 it released a capsule that parachuted down to the Utah desert with the sample. Scientists found it contained carbon-rich material and water-bearing minerals, which gives clues about the early Solar System. The spacecraft itself continued on an extended mission to the asteroid Apophis under the name OSIRIS-APEX.

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