--- title: NASA Launches First-Ever Mission to Sample Asteroid description: NASA launched its first-ever mission to study an asteroid up close and bring samples back to Earth Thursday canonical: https://time.com/4485171/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-mission-space/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-09T12:06:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T02:45:32.000Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Launches First-Ever Mission to Sample Asteroid og:description: NASA launched its first-ever mission to study an asteroid up close and bring samples back to Earth Thursday og:url: https://time.com/4485171/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-mission-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2b4163703ea1200/6988a555428a9e17e2cd430e/nasa-asteroid-launch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: OSIRIS-REx Launch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Launches First-Ever Mission to Sample Asteroid twitter:description: NASA launched its first-ever mission to study an asteroid up close and bring samples back to Earth Thursday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2b4163703ea1200/6988a555428a9e17e2cd430e/nasa-asteroid-launch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Launches Mission to Intercept Asteroid  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:45 AM UTCPublished: Sep 9, 2016 12:06 PM UTC  The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft lifts off on from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Fla. on Sept. 8, 2016. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft lifts off on from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Fla. on Sept. 8, 2016.Joel Kowsky—NASA  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:45 AM UTCPublished: Sep 9, 2016 12:06 PM UTC **Correction appended, Sept. 12** [NASA](http://time.com/3964417/nasa-history-1958/?iid=sr-link2) launched its first-ever mission to study an asteroid up close and bring samples back to Earth Thursday, in what they call a “huge milestone” in working to understand the origins of the solar system. The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx launched from Cape Canaveral Thursday night and is headed towards the asteroid Bennu, which is the size of a small mountain, according to [a press release](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-osiris-rex-speeds-toward-asteroid-rendezvous) by NASA. OSIRIS-REx will approach Bennu in 2018, study the asteroid and take surface samples, and then return with the samples to Earth in 2023\. Scientists believe asteroids like Bennu may have been a source of water and organic molecules for planets at the formation of the solar system more than 4.5 million years ago. “Today, we celebrate a huge milestone for this remarkable mission, and for this mission team,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in the press release. “We’re very excited about what this mission can tell us about the origin of our solar system, and we celebrate the bigger picture of science that is helping us make discoveries and accomplish milestones that might have been science fiction yesterday, but are science facts today.” **Correction:** The original version of this story misstated the milestone achieved by the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx. 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