NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX Mission Will Explore Asteroid Apophis

  • Released Wednesday, September 23, 2026
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NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission will rendezvous with Apophis in mid-2029, following the asteroid’s historically close flyby of Earth.

Complete transcript available.

Universal Production Music: “Cellular” by Andy Hopkins [PRS] and Dean Mahoney [PRS]

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel, X, and LinkedIn.

OSIRIS-APEX is a mission to study the physical changes to asteroid Apophis that will result from its rare close encounter with Earth in April 2029. That year, Apophis’ orbit will bring it within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of Earth’s surface – closer to Earth than our highest-altitude satellites. Our planet’s gravitational pull is expected to alter the asteroid’s orbit, change how fast it spins on its axis, and possibly cause quakes or landslides that will modify its surface. The OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft will observe these changes as it passes by Earth within an hour of Apophis, on track for a rendezvous with the asteroid in mid-2029.

ARTIST’S CONCEPT - Asteroid Apophis tumbles through space, eclipsing the Milky Way and its satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

VERTICAL VIDEO – Learn how NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX mission will rendezvous with asteroid Apophis in mid-2029.

Watch this video on NASA Goddard’s Instagram Reels.

This is an interactive 3D model! Swipe with one finger to rotate the model. Swipe with two fingers to pan the model instead.
This is an interactive 3D model! Click and drag or use the arrow keys to rotate the model. Hold shift to pan the model instead.

This model of asteroid Apophis is provided by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. It is available in its original format and with a subdivision surface modifier applied for smoother vertices. The model is also available as a .stl file for 3D printing.

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This page was originally published on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
This page was last updated on Monday, October 5, 2026 at 11:09 AM EDT.