NASA’s Osiris-Rex Spacecraft Begins 2-Year Journey To Earth

A NASA spacecraft that was sent to retrieve samples from an asteroid, is now headed back to Earth.

The Osiris-Rex spacecraft was scheduled to maneuver away from the asteroid called Bennu at 3 p.m. Monday and begin what will be a more than two-year trip home.

“We'll do two laps around the sun, traveling over a billion miles, and then in September 2023 -- September 24, 2023 -- the spacecraft will drop the capsule off, it'll go through the atmosphere and then land on parachutes at the Utah test and training range in the Utah desert,” Flight Dynamics Manager Kenny Getzandanner said.

The project has taken seven years. Scientists believe Bennu is about four and a half billion years old and said it could help us learn about how life formed on Earth.