PakNews: In first, NASA spaceship begins orbit of asteroid

Wednesday, 2 January 2019

In first, NASA spaceship begins orbit of asteroid

A NASA spacecraft set a new milestone Monday in cosmic exploration by entering orbit around an asteroid, Bennu, the smallest object ever to be circled by a human-made spaceship. The spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, is the first-ever US mission designed to visit an asteroid and return a sample of its dust back to Earth. On Monday, after closely studying the asteroid for several weeks, the spaceship fired its thrusters to bring it into orbit around Bennu at 2:43 pm (1943 GMT).