Spacecraft to seek the origins of life

NASA scientists are putting the finishing touches on a spacecraft designed to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018 to find clues about the origins of life.

"We are days away from encapsulating into our rocket faring and lifting this spacecraft on to the Atlas V vehicle and beginning the journey to Bennu and back," Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of the mission, told Reuters at the Kennedy Space Center.

The $1 billion mission, known as OSIRIS-REx, is scheduled for launch on Sept 8, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.