NASA
NASA s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) robotic deep-space probe is returning from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. On May 10, 2021 at 4:23 pm EDT, the spacecraft began its 2.5-year journey to Earth laden with rock and dust samples as its four high-thrust main engines fired for seven minutes to reach a relative velocity of 600 mph (1,000 km/h).
Today s departure comes after weeks of preparations as Mission Control waited for Bennu to reach the optimum position for the return flight to Earth. The imaging cameras switched off on April 9, system checks were completed, and updates were sent to OSIRIS-REx after the final calculations were made to ensure that the sample return capsule will hit the Earth s atmosphere at the right angle on September 24, 2023, so it survives re-entry and parachutes down to the recovery area at the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah s West Desert.
It will take the craft nearly 2 1/2 years to get back to Earth.
In this undated image provided by NASA, a sample container hovers over a capsule on the Osiris-Rex spacecraft near the asteroid Bennu. The capsule will eventually return to Earth with rubble collected in the container on Oct. 20, 2020, from the asteroid’s surface. (NASA via AP)
(CN) The first NASA spacecraft scheduled to bring asteroid samples to Earth has begun the long journey home, four years after reaching the ancient asteroid Bennu. The craft carries rock and sediment from the asteroid, which could strike our planet in the late 22nd century.
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 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.
May 11, 2021 Share
A probe from the U.S. space agency NASA is scheduled later Monday to fire its thrusters and leave the orbit of the asteroid Bennu, beginning a two-year journey back to Earth, complete with samples from the asteroid’s surface.
The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is scheduled to fire its thrusters for about seven minutes, taking it out of the asteroid’s orbit and setting it on a homeward course.
OSIRIS-REx first rendezvoused with the asteroid in 2018. Last October, the craft dropped to Bennu’s surface, sunk its “sampling head” 48.8 centimeters into the asteroid and simultaneously fired a pressurized charge of nitrogen gas to churn up surface material and drive it into its the collection chamber.