OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission Overview (Official NASA Briefing)

News conference participants are:

• Melissa Morris, OSIRIS-REx program executive, NASA Headquarters, Washington
• Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson
• Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
• Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager, Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado
• Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston

On Sept. 24, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will approach Earth and release its sample return capsule into the atmosphere on a path to land at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The event makes it the first U.S. asteroid sample return.

The touchdown will mark the end of a seven-year journey to explore asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface, and deliver it to Earth for study. Scientists around the world will study the sample over the coming decades to learn about how our planet and s