OSIRIS-REx Slings Orbital Web Around Asteroid to Capture Sample

101955 Bennu is one of Earth’s closest planetary neighbors – an asteroid roughly the height of a skyscraper, and since late 2018, the place that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has called home. When OSIRIS-REx arrived on Dec. 3, 2018, it began wrapping Bennu in a complex web of observations. OSIRIS-REx departs Bennu on May 10, 2021, on a return voyage to Earth, bringing with it over 60 grams of sample collected from the asteroid. This narrated video presents the mission’s complete trajectory during its time at Bennu.

More: https://nasa.gov/osiris-rex

Music: “Visionary” by Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra; “Babel” by Max Cameron Concors, via Universal Production Music

Data provided by: NASA/University of Arizona/CSA/York University/Open University/MDA

Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer
Kel Elkins (USRA): Producer
Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Data Visualizer
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Narrator
Michael Moreau (NASA/GSFC): Deputy Project Manager
Dante Lauretta (The University of Arizona): Principal Investigator
Kenny Getzandanner (NASA/GSFC): Engineer