10K views · 5.9K reactions | Hello, asteroid Bennu! NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission flew over two billion miles through space to meet you. Here, the spacecraft's camera captures a full rotation of the asteroid from only about 50 miles away: https://go.nasa.gov/2rhr6a3 OSIRIS-REx will study Bennu for almost a year and eventually select a location to collect a sample to return to Earth. #WelcomeToBennu | NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Facebook

☄️🧬 BREAKING: Asteroid Bennu Contains Ingredients for Life 🧬☄️ NASA has confirmed that samples from asteroid Bennu contain all the key molecules linked to the start of life. Sugars, nucleobases, amino acids, phosphates, and a strange nitrogen-rich material never seen in any meteorite were all found in the sample collected by OSIRIS-REx. These ingredients existed in space before Earth fully formed. More results are coming as scientists continue studying the material. #NASA #Bennu #OSIRISREx #Sp

Our OSIRIS-REx mission, launching in September 2016, will return a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in 2023. This will allow scientists to study pristine material left over from the early solar system. Want to learn more about the mission? Follow our #NASASocial today: http://go.nasa.gov/1Ta13Wm | NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

31K views · 4K reactions | Next week, NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission will practice touching asteroid Bennu one last time before its big moment. The 4-hour excursion will bring the spacecraft to just 131 ft (40 m) above Bennu. Here's a preview of the rehearsal: https://go.nasa.gov/30zVOgR | NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Facebook