What to know about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission

A seven-year-long NASA mission will come to an end on Sunday and — if all goes as planned — the first asteroid sample collected in space will land on Earth. Back in September 2016, the federal space agency launched the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on a daring mission to snare a batch of rocks from the asteroid Bennu, located about 200 million miles away. The spacecraft is now heading back into Earth's orbit now and will jettison its cargo over the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah.