OSIRIS-REx: Above and Beyond

Since arriving at asteroid Bennu in Dec. 2018, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has achieved many feats – from setting a record-breaking orbit, to mapping the asteroid’s surface better than any planetary body. The mission is now preparing to collect a sample of Bennu, which will be the first time that NASA has gathered pieces of an asteroid. On Oct. 20, the OSIRIS-REx mission will perform the first attempt of its Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. Not only will the spacecraft navigate to the surface using innovative navigation techniques, but it could also collect the largest sample since the Apollo missions. The spacecraft will deliver the sample to Earth on Sep. 24, 2023.