NASA spacecraft heads off to asteroid to bring back samples
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CAPE CANAVERAL- A NASA spacecraft is on its way to the space rock Bennu (BEHN'oo).
The Osiris-Rex explorer rocketed away from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday evening, just before sunset. It was the start of a seven-year quest to the big, black, unexplored asteroid. Once there, the spacecraft will gather a few handfuls of gravel for return to Earth.
These bite-size bits of ancient space rock -- due here in 2023 if all goes well -- could hold clues to the origin of life.
