The first U.S. asteroid sample, delivered by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to Earth on Sept. 24, has arrived at its permanent home at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it will be cared for, stored, and distributed to scientists worldwide. The sample arrived in Houston at 12:40 pm ET (11:40 am CT) aboard a U.S. …
NASA's OSIRIS-REx clean room team has finished disassembling the sample capsule and packaging its components, including the unopened sample canister. Now packed in shipping containers – along with the environmental samples the recovery team collected around the capsule's landing site this morning – the items are scheduled to be delivered on Monday, Sept. 25, to …
View or download photos from the Sept. 24 OSIRIS-REx sample-landing activities. View or download OSIRIS-REx mission photos from a curated collection.
At 12:37 a.m. EDT (10:37 a.m. MDT), a helicopter gently placed NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, attached to the end of a 100-foot cable, on the ground outside a hangar on the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. Two technicians on the ground helped guide the capsule down. Once the helicopter line was detached …
With the sample secured and the area around the sample capsule deemed safe, NASA's OSIRIS-REx team completed the detailed and highly coordinated recovery process (which they have practiced many times in the past year). They placed the 100-pound capsule into a metal cradle and wrapped it in multiple sheets of Teflon and then a tarp. …
Having received the capsule's precise coordinates from radar trackers when it landed, NASA's OSIRIS-REx helicopter recovery team arrived at its landing location within 20 minutes. A U.S. Air Force munitions specialist was the first person to disembark a helicopter. His task was to identify and clear the area around the capsule of any possible munitions …
The U.S. has, for the first time, delivered rocks and dust from an asteroid to Earth. NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, carrying a sample of asteroid Bennu, touched down on the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range at 10:52 a.m. EDT (8:52 a.m. MDT). Radar data from the Utah Testing and Training Range confirmed …
With the spacecraft diverted away from Earth and traveling toward its new destination, the focus of NASA's OSIRIS-REx team is on the capsule. OSIRIS-REx and military recovery team members aboard four helicopters and two backup ground vehicles are waiting just outside the capsule's designated landing area on the Department of Defense's Utah Test and …
NASA's live coverage of the OSIRIS-REx capsule landing has begun on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft completed its final task for this mission when it released its sample capsule toward Earth less than an hour ago. About 20 minutes after doing so, the spacecraft fired its engines to divert past Earth toward its new mission to asteroid Apophis and was renamed OSIRIS-APEX. Roughly 1,000 feet wide, Apophis will …
