NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft makes history by successfully touching down on asteroid
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made history on Tuesday when it briefly touched down on the asteroid Bennu, more than 200 million miles away from Earth.
This was the first mission of its kind for NASA, and was more than a decade in the making. After years of planning, OSIRIS-REx launched in September 2016, and it has spent the last two years orbiting Bennu, an asteroid that is as tall as the Empire State Building, CNN reports. The spacecraft has been sending back data and images, but its main reason for going to the asteroid was so it could quickly touch down and use its robotic arm to collect a sample.
On Tuesday evening, NASA announced that preliminary data showed the event went well, with the touchdown lasting less than a minute, but scientists won't know for sure if a sample was collected until all of the data is analyzed. OSIRIS-REx is set to start the trip back to Earth in 2021, arriving in 2023.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement this was "an incredible feat, and today we've advanced both science and engineering and our prospects for future missions to study these mysterious ancient storytellers of the solar system. A piece of primordial rock that has witnesses our solar system's entire history may now be ready to come home for generations of scientific discovery, and we can't wait to see what comes next." Catherine Garcia
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - October 13, 2024
Sunday's cartoons - the swing of things, fear of facts, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 timely cartoons about climate change denial
Cartoons Artists take on textbook trouble, bizarre beliefs, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Kris Kristofferson: the free-spirited country music star who studied at Oxford
In the Spotlight The songwriter, singer and film-star has died aged 88
By The Week UK Published
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'
Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security law
Speed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidence
Speed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulations
Speed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriage
Speed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba have a rough day in defamation court
Speed Read Trump's audible grousing as E. Jean Carroll testified earned him a warning he could be thrown out of court, and Habba showed she 'doesn't know what the hell she's doing'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Anders Breivik to testify in prison isolation lawsuit against Norway
Speed Read Far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in 2011 claims he has received 'inhuman treatment' in custody
By The Week UK Published