NASA s OSIRIS-REx heads back to Earth on 2-year journey after collecting samples from asteroid Bennu
NASA spacecraft OSIRIS-REx heads back to Earth
OSIRIS-REx has been studying and collecting samples from the asteroid Bennu, and now it s heading back to Earth. FOX 10 s Jennifer Martinez reports.
PHOENIX - NASA s first asteroid sample mission is now on its way home from Bennu – but talk about a long trip – the journey is expected to take about two years.
OSIRIS-REx (
xplorer) collected asteroid samples that can provide many answers for scientists.
It was definitely a bittersweet moment, as the mission in space is coming to a close. Now the next step is to study the samples that were collected once the OSIRIS-REx returns to Earth.
NASA s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Returning to Earth With Asteroid Bennu Sample in Tow
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NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft was originally launched from Florida s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on September 8, 2016. OSIRIS-REx s main objective is to retrieve a sample from Bennu, the near-Earth asteroid the spacecraft landed on in 2018.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Monday began its two-and-a-half-year trek back to Earth, NASA revealed in a same-day announcement.
According to the news release, the spacecraft fired its main engines for some seven minutes, thrusting it away from asteroid Bennu at approximately 600 miles per hour (965 kilometers per hour).
NASA s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has begun its 1.4 billion mile journey back to Earth and it s carrying historic asteroid samples By Sophie Lewis NASA attempts historic touchdown on asteroid
After nearly five years in space, a NASA spacecraft is nearing the end of its historic mission, beginning its journey home to Earth with a plethora of asteroid samples.
NASA s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft began its journey back to Earth on Monday a trip that s expected to take around two-and-a-half years. It s returning from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, and it marks NASA s first-ever asteroid sample return mission.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx has said its goodbyes to asteroid Bennu, the space rock it has studied for over two years. The spacecraft has analyzed this small asteroid in exquisite detail and finally last October flew down to its surface to collect a sample of asteroid material to bring back to Earth. Its journey home with its precious cargo has now begun.
On May 10, at 4:23 pm EDT, OSIRIS-REx fired its engines for a full 7-minute burn. The spacecraft started moving away from Bennu at almost 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) an hour to begin its 2.5-year-long path back to Earth.
“OSIRIS-REx’s many accomplishments demonstrated the daring and innovate way in which exploration unfolds in real time,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters, said in a statement. “The team rose to the challenge, and now we have a primordial piece of our Solar System headed back to Earth where many generations of researchers can unlock its secrets.”