OSIRIS-REx became the first mission to gather samples from an asteroid in space after it successfully collected rocky “regolith” material from the surface of Bennu.

It conducted surveys early on that revealed organic carbonaceous material spread widely over Bennu’s surface, particularly at the Nightingale site chosen for the sampling process. That gave NASA confidence that it would collect a sample with organic material, which was a central goal of the mission.

The camera shows the TAGSAM head approaching and then impacting Bennu’s surface at just 0.2 mph, penetrating in to the regolith.