Watch Live: A NASA Spacecraft Is About to Land on an Asteroid And Grab a Sample
by ELIZABETH CANTWELL
Imagine parallel parking a 15-passenger van into just two to three parking spaces surrounded by two-story boulders. On October 20, a University of Arizona-led NASA mission 16 years in the making will attempt the astronomical equivalent more than 200 million miles (320 million kilometres) away.
A NASA mission called OSIRIS-REx will soon attempt to touch the surface of an asteroid and collect loose rubble.