ORLANDO, Fla. – A NASA spacecraft is less than two days away from sucking up a few pounds of a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid called Bennu and bringing it back to Earth, enabling scientists to learn more about how planets formed and how to protect Earth from asteroids in the future.This mission has been more than a decade in the making; OSIRIS-REx launched from Cape Canaveral Florida in September 2016.
The spacecraft name stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, a true mouthful even for a NASA acronym.The spacecraft chased down its target, Bennu, and has been orbiting the asteroid since December 2018, preparing for the Oct.