The gravity-boost took place yesterday about halfway through the two-year journey of the spacecraft, known as OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Regolith Explorer).
"The preliminary results are in, and my #EarthGravityAssist was succesful!" said the NASA Twitter account for OSIRIS-REx, about an hour after it made its closest approach to Earth at 12:52 pm (1652 GMT).
The mission launched last year from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its goal is to collect a sample from Bennu in 2018, and return it to Earth for further study in 2023.
The spacecraft zipped over Antarctica at a distance of 11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers), using Earth's gravity to shift its trajectory so it can eventually meet up with Bennu.
Also Read
Bennu is a primitive, carbon-rich asteroid, the kind of cosmic body that may have delivered life-giving materials to Earth billions of years ago.
The asteroid's orbit around the Sun is tilted six degrees in comparison to Earth's.
During the gravity assist, OSIRIS-REx swung through a region of space that contains Earth-orbiting satellites, but emerged intact.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content