Date Time
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Heads for Earth with Asteroid Sample
After nearly five years in space, NASAs Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
On Monday, May 10, at 4:23p.m. EDT the spacecraft fired its main engines full throttle for seven minutes its most significant maneuver since it arrived at Bennu in 2018. This burn thrust the spacecraft away from the asteroid at 600 miles per hour (nearly 1,000 kilometers per hour), setting it on a 2.5-year cruise towards Earth.
OSIRIS-REx space probe made final flyover of asteroid Bennu before it returns to Earth
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft prepares for return to Earth
The spacecraft, which was launched in 2016, collected a sample from the asteroid Bennu in 2020. The spacecraft has since made a final flyover of the asteroid before it begins its journey back to Earth in May. FOX 10 s Stephanie Olmo reports.
PHOENIX - In 2016, history was made at Cape Canaveral, Fla., when the OSIRIS-REx (
Origins,
Regolith E
xplorer) spacecraft was launched into space. The spacecraft successfully collected a sample from the asteroid Bennu, and on April 7, it made one last flyover of the asteroid before it began its journey back to earth.