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OSIRIS-REx traveled to near-Earth asteroid Bennu and is bringing a small sample back to Earth for study. The mission launched Sept. 8, 2016, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft reached Bennu in 2018 and will return a sample to Earth in September 2023. The capsule will enter Earth’s atmosphere at 10:42 a.m. EDT (8:42 a.m. MDT, 14:42 UTC/GMT, 16:42 CEST), traveling about 27,650 mph. The capsule is carrying an estimated 8.8 ounces (0,25 kg) of rocky material collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu in 2020. Researchers will study the sample in the coming years to learn about how our planet and solar system formed and the origin of organics that may have led to life on Earth. Once located and packaged for travel, the capsule will be flown to a temporary clean room on the military range, where it will undergo initial processing and disassembly in preparation for its journey by aircraft to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the sample will be documented, cared for, and distributed for analysis to scientists worldwide. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta is the mission's principal investigator at the University of Arizona. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver has built the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Download the OSIRIS Rex Fact Sheet: More about the mission: Mission Status Page:
