By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft descended Tuesday toward the surface of an asteroid 200 million miles away to collect a handful of rubble for return to Earth. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft dropped out of orbit around asteroid Bennu right on time, beginning a 4 1/2-hour plunge to the rough, boulder-covered face of the ancient space rock. It was America's first attempt to gather samples from an asteroid, something already accomplished by Japan — twice. Bennu's gravity was too low for the spacecraft to land — the asteroid is just 1,670 feet (510 […]
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