NASA’s first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016. The Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security ...

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to return samples of Asteroid Bennu to Earth. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center ...

Bits of rock and dust brought back from the distant asteroid Bennu contain some of the chemical building blocks of life, NASA announced Wednesday, a discovery that strengthens the theory that ...

Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center technicians and engineers cycle the sample return capsule (SRC) door in a test of NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation ...

The largest sample returned from an asteroid could contain insights into our solar system's past and the origin of life on Earth. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

Sometimes, it's the big missions that are the most impressive -- your moon landings and your ISS construction projects. But these days, the big space projects that define the push toward a future in ...

NASA scientists opening the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return lid at the Johnson Space Center. Credit: Robert Markowitz / NASA Inside Building 31 at Johnson Space Center, NASA scientists have opened ...

This artist's illustration shows NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft zooming past Earth on Sept. 22, 2017 — a maneuver designed to boost the probe’s speed and refine its course toward the asteroid Bennu.

An incredibly ambitious project to return samples from an asteroid has passed a major milestone, and has NASA's blessing to take the text step toward a launch in September 2016. Share on Facebook ...

NASA’s third New Frontiers-class mission, the Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return probe, cleared a crucial decision point for development May 15 and is expected to proceed in preparation for launch to ...