"NASA Successfully Unveils OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Contents"

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has successfully accessed the asteroid material it collected after freeing two stuck fasteners that had locked away the precious cargo. The spacecraft made history in September 2023 by becoming the first U.S. mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth. With the fasteners removed, scientists will now be able to access the bulk of the asteroid material, including dust and rocks, and determine its final mass in the coming weeks. The samples from asteroid Bennu have the potential to provide invaluable insights into the formation and evolution of celestial bodies, furthering our understanding of the universe's mysteries. Additionally, the spacecraft, now called OSIRIS-APEX, is on a five-year journey to study the asteroid Apophis.