OSIRIS-REx Farewell to Bennu: Animation

  • Released Monday, May 10, 2021
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OSIRIS-REx leaving Bennu, returning to Earth.

At approximately 4:16 p.m. EDT on May 10, 2021, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will fire its main thrusters for seven minutes and start its long journey home with more than 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of asteroid material in its Sample Return Capsule.

OSIRIS-REx's departure sequence is the mission's largest maneuver since it arrived at Bennu in 2018. The thrusters have to change the spacecraft velocity by 266 meters per second (0.16 mile per second) for OSIRIS-REx's path to intersect Earth and achieve a successful sample return at the Utah Test and Training Range on September 24, 2023, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. EDT.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

This page was originally published on Monday, May 10, 2021.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:44 PM EDT.