As it slingshotted past Earth at 19,000 miles per hour on its journey to an asteroid, NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft took a moment to admire the view — from 106,000 miles away. This composite image was taken on Friday by an onboard camera as the spacecraft flew past the planet. To get on the right trajectory for traveling toward the asteroid, it needed to fling past Earth last week. The carbon-rich asteroid is like a time capsule from more than 4.5 billion years ago when the solar system formed. Scientists hope that the samples that Osiris-Rex collects and brings to Earth in 2023 will contain clues from the earliest history of our stellar neighborhood.

Source: New York Times September 27, 2017 15:22 UTC