Goodbye, Asteroid Bennu, It's Been Real - Gizmodo

Apr 08, 2021

Yesterday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft passed by the asteroid Bennu for the last time, ending its two-and-a-half-year relationship with the space rock.

“Leaving Bennu’s vicinity in May puts us in the ‘sweet spot,’ when the departure maneuver will consume the least amount of the spacecraft’s onboard fuel,” said Michael Moreau, a deputy project manager for the OSIRIS-REx mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in a statement.

As OSIRIS-REx departed its familiar orbit, it captured images of the asteroid’s surface from about 2 miles away.