NASA’s Bennu Asteroid Sample Contains Carbon, Water

OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. It returned to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, to drop off material from asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft didn't land, but continued on to a new mission to explore asteroid Apophis. Meanwhile, scientists hope the pristine samples it dropped into the Utah desert offer clues to whether asteroids colliding with Earth billions of years ago brought water and other key ingredients for life.