NASA hopes to capture the imagination of stargazers and unlock the secrets of our origins as it prepares for the launch of one its most daring missions yet later today.
Snappily coined OSIRIS-REx, the revolutionary spacecraft will travel for over two years towards its host, Asteroid Bennu, where it aims to drill a rock sample for return back to Earth in 2022 - the largest since the 1972 Apollo mission to the moon.
Formed during the earliest period of our solar system, Asteroid Bennu is expected to contain vital information on the origins and building blocks of life as we know it.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx embarks on a six-year round trip today.
More worryingly, however, is the asteroid's irregular orbit, which leaves a small possibility of impact with Earth late into the next century - a danger which is said to have been a major factor when determining a suitable asteroid for the probe.
Speaking before the mission launch, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, Dante Lauretta, stated: "we're going to reach out, touch it and bring a sample back for scientific analysis - to it doesn't get any more exciting than that."
OSIRIS-REx is set take off between 7:05 and 9:05 pm at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
