US SPACECRAFT TOUCHES ASTEROID SURFACE FOR RARE RUBBLE GRAB
Oct 23, 2020
3 minutes
A NASA spacecraft descended to an asteroid Tuesday and, dodging boulders the size of buildings, momentarily touched the surface to collect a handful of cosmic rubble for return to Earth.
It was a first for the United States — only Japan has scored asteroid samples.
“Touchdown declared,” a flight controller announced to cheers and applause. “Sampling is in progress.”
Confirmation came from the Osiris-Rex spacecraft as it made contact with the surface of the
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