![(FILES) This NASA file image obtained August 11, 2020 shows an artist's rendering of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface. The big day has arrived for the American probe Osiris-Rex: after four years of travel, it will hit the asteroid Bennu on October 20, 2020 to pick up a few tens of grams of dust, a high-precision operation 320 million kilometers away from Earth . - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /NASA/GODDARD/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA/HANDOUT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
/ AFP / NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /NASA/GODDARD/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA/HANDOUT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/2MGD3NVUCLHOYJZAB4YPKD6D54.jpg?smart=true&auth=753654afe327b40ee09a2a07f18944bfa710efee335a06584025b4849c181525&width=400&height=225)
An artist's impression of Nasa’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect debris from its surface. AFP
An artist's impression of Nasa’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect debris from its surface. AFP
Nasa's Osiris-Rex probe successfully touches asteroid to bring back surface dust
The spacecraft will stow the sample in a capsule which it will release when near the Earth again in September 2023