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(music throughout) Like boot prints on the Moon,

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft left its mark on asteroid Bennu.

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Now, new images — taken during the spacecraft's

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final fly-over on April 7, 2021 — reveal the aftermath of the historic feat.

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The spacecraft flew within 3.7 km of the asteroid —

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the closest it has been since the Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sample collection event on October 20, 2020.

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During TAG, the spacecraft's sampling head sunk 48.8 centimeters

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into the asteroid's surface and simultaneously fired a pressurized charge of nitrogen gas,

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churning up surface material and driving it into the collection chamber.

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Four of the spacecraft's back-away thrusters launched rocks and dust

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during the maneuver as OSIRIS-REx pushed back off into space.

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Multiple sub-meter boulders were mobilized by the thrusters into a campfire,

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ring-like shape – similar to rings of boulders seen around small craters pocking the surface.

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The spacecraft will remain in Bennu's vicinity until departure on May 10,

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when the mission will begin its two-year return cruise back to Earth.

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Ultimately, it will deliver the collected sample to the

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Utah Test and Training Range on September 24, 2023.
