DHAKA: NASA launched a space probe called OSIRIS-REx to chase down a dark, potentially dangerous asteroid called Bennu.

The probe will take a sample of the asteroid and -- in a US space first -- bring the sample back to Earth.

“I'm really excited. I can’t wait to get to the asteroid,” OSIRIS-REx program scientist Jeffrey Grossman told CNN.

“We’re going to learn so much about the solar system from studying this asteroid and getting a sample back.”

If you are thinking this sounds a bit like the plot from the 1998 sci-fi flick ‘Armageddon,’ you would be right, but without Bruce Willis (there won't be any people on this spacecraft) and without space shuttles. (NASA retired the shuttles in 2011.)

In this real life story, OSIRIS-REx will study and sample Bennu, a big, roundish space rock that has made it onto NASA’s list of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.

That means Bennu is one of the most dangerous space rocks we know of because it could one day collide with Earth.

OSIRIS-REx lifted off at 7:05 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. NASA tweeted, “Our @OSIRISREx spacecraft is on its way, and everything is on the timeline ...”

BDST: 1600 HRS, SEP 09, 2016
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