Bennu (BEHN'-oo) was discovered in 1999 and got its name for this mission 14 years later. A North Carolina schoolboy had the winning entry in an international student naming contest held by the University of Arizona, the Planetary Society and others; he likened the boxy spacecraft, with its twin solar wings and 10-foot mechanical arm, to the heron of Egyptian mythology, Bennu. The spacecraft shares that Egyptian motif, bearing the mythological god's name Osiris. Osiris-Rex also doubles as a NASA acronym.
Bennu the bird
This artist's rendering made available by NASA in July 2016 shows the mapping of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The spacecraft will spend a year surveying Bennu before collecting a sample that will be returned to Earth for analysis. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona via AP)
An asteroid that may hold the key to life is getting its first visitor in billions of years. Here are five tidbits about Bennu, chosen for NAS…
