OSIRIS-REx Heads Home with Sample of Asteroid Bennu
-
- Visualizations by:
- Kel Elkins
-
- Produced by:
- James Tralie
- View full credits
After nearly five years in space, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu.
On Monday, May 10, 2021 at 4:23 p.m. EDT the spacecraft fired its main engines full throttle for seven minutes – its most significant maneuver since it arrived at Bennu in 2018. This burn thrust the spacecraft away from the asteroid at 600 miles per hour (nearly 1,000 kilometers per hour), setting it on a 2.5-year cruise towards Earth.
After orbiting the Sun twice, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is due to reach Earth Sept. 24, 2023. Upon return, the capsule containing pieces of Bennu will separate from the rest of the spacecraft and enter Earth’s atmosphere. The capsule will parachute to the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah’s West Desert, where scientists will be waiting to retrieve it.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
-
Animators
- Jonathan North (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Walt Feimer (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
-
Visualizer
- Kel Elkins (USRA) [Lead]
-
Editor
- James Tralie (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
-
Producers
- James Tralie (ADNET Systems, Inc.) [Lead]
- Ned Barbee (Lockheed Martin)
-
Narrator
- James Tralie (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
-
Videographers
- Dusty Volkel (Lockheed Martin)
- Will Blakley (Lockheed Martin)
-
Technical support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)