NASA's final tally shows spacecraft returned double the amount of asteroid rubble
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA finally has counted up all the asteroid samples returned by a spacecraft last fall — and it’s double the rubble return goal.
Officials reported Thursday that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft collected 121.6 grams (4.29 ounces) of dust and pebbles from asteroid Bennu. That’s just over half a cup and the biggest cosmic haul ever from beyond the moon.
It took NASA longer than expected to pry open the sample container because of stuck fasteners.
The black, carbon-rich samples — the first ever collected from an asteroid by NASA — are stored at a special curation lab at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
Osiris-Rex returned the samples last September, three years after gathering them from the asteroid. The haul for the $1 billion mission would have been greater, but rocks jammed the lid of the container following the grab and some samples floated away.
Related articles
- Children play at a camp in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, April 5, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua2024-04-30
Twins pound out 17 hits, claim their seventh straight win with an 11
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Austin Martin and Alex Kiriloff drove in two runs apiece, and the Minnesota T2024-04-30Senzel homers twice, Nationals erase 7
MIAMI (AP) — Nick Senzel homered twice and drove in five runs as the Washington Nationals erased an2024-04-30Jets forward Namestnikov is taken to the hospital after a puck hit him in the face
DENVER (AP) — Winnipeg forward Vladislav Namestnikov was taken to the hospital for evaluation after2024-04-30Williamson to lead New Zealand at the Twenty20 World Cup; Southee to make his 7th appearance
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Veteran seamer Tim Southee will play at his seventh Twenty20 World Cu2024-04-30German police arrest a Russian man in connection with the fatal stabbings of 2 Ukrainian men
BERLIN (AP) — Two Ukrainian men were stabbed to death in southern Germany, police said Sunday, and a2024-04-30
atest comment