NASA's asteroid-visiting spacecraft will begin its journey home on May 10

NASA's asteroid-visiting spacecraft will begin its journey home on May 10
Andrea Leinfelder
© Associated Press
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which collected rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu in October, will depart the asteroid on May 10 to begin its two-year journey back to Earth, NASA announced on Tuesday.
“Leaving Bennu’s vicinity in May puts us in the ‘sweet spot,’ when the departure maneuver will consume the least amount of the spacecraft’s onboard fuel,” Michael Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a news release.
It could also provide time for the OSIRIS-REx team to conduct a final flyby of Bennu. This would provide another look at the site where the spacecraft collected samples -- to determine how its touch-and-go maneuver affected the surface of Bennu -- and could be used to check the spacecraft's scientific instruments and see if they're healthy enough to possibly extend the mission after Bennu's samples are returned to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

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