U.S. lawmakers insist the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act's space resources provisions are consistent with the Outer Space Treaty, and not a U.S. attempt to claim sovereignty over territory on other worlds.
The supermassive black hole is 40 million times as massive as the sun and powers a quasar that existed 700 million years after the Big Bang.
The asteroid zoomed by Earth at a perfectly safe distance of around 1.8 million miles (2.9 kilometers).
Images show surprise changes to the spacecraft as it interacted with the atmosphere.
