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OSIRIS-REx Full Mission Gallery

OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. It returned to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, to drop off a capsule with material from asteroid Bennu. After dropping off the sample capsule through Earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX and sent on a new mission to explore asteroid Apophis in 2029. This is a sampling of images and videos from the entire mission.

This mosaic of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on Dec. 2, 2019, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
Gray-colored asteroid Bennu is shaped like a spinning top.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft being lifted into the thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin for environmental testing. Credits: Lockheed Martin Read...
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is lowered into a black thermal vacuum chamber from above. The spacecraft is a rectangle shape, wrapped in silver blanketing. A squat cone on the front end is also wrapped in silver blanketing, placed like the head on a dog. Various wires extend from the spacecraft. People in white clean room suits watch from the edge of the chamber.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station...
A rocket launching against a light blue sky. It is creating a long trail, curving slightly to the right. A crowd of people are watching.
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24,...
Aerial view of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule on the desert ground. An orange-and-white parachute lays crumpled next to it.⁣
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24,...
Black, top-shaped sample return capsule sits on the desert ground.
Curation teams process the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the...
Several people stand outside a small, enclosed, windowed room, looking in. Inside the room, people in white clean room suits work on the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, which sits on a platform.
A container with the science canister from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen aboard a C-17 Globemaster aircraft, Monday, Sept. 25,...
jsc2024e008542 - Curation team members from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in...
Three people in clean room hoods and masks on either side of a glove box containing the OSIRIS-REx TAGSAM capsule. The capsule is a squat silver cylinder, sitting on thin legs. The glove box is clear and has a trapezoidal top, so users can lean slightly over and see down into what they’re doing. Sets of white gloves extends into the box from both sides, so users can manipulate the sample capsule inside without exposing it to the outside world.
A view of eight sample trays containing the final material from asteroid Bennu. The dust and rocks were poured into...
A view of eight sample trays containing the final material from asteroid Bennu. The dust and rocks were poured into the trays from the top plate of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. 51.2 grams were collected from this pour, bringing the final mass of asteroid sample to 121.6 grams. Credit: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold
In this video frame, Jason Dworkin holds up a vial that contains part of the sample from asteroid Bennu delivered...
A man wearing a white lab coat, purple gloves, and a white hair covering, holds a vial containing a small sample of asteroid Bennu in front of him. The sample is gray. The depth of field is shallow, so his hand and the vial are in focus, and the rest of him is slightly out of focus.
Jason Dworkin, project scientist for NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission, examines a...
A man sits, looking into a microscope. He has on a white lab coat, purple gloves, and a white hair covering. Another person is wearing similar protective gear behind him.
Hannah McLain stands inside an astrobiology lab, looking directly at the camera. She is dressed in a white lab coat, white surgical face mask, white bouffant cap, and purple nitrile gloves. Her arm extends towards the camera, presenting a cylindrical metal container that is slightly larger than her hand. The phrases “PROPERTY OF NASA,” “OSIRIS-REx,” and “CONTAINER #:90237” are engraved in small capital letters on the base.
Hannah McLain sits inside an astrobiology lab, reaching under a fume hood. She is dressed in a white lab coat, white surgical face mask, white bouffant cap, and purple nitrile gloves. In her left hand, she holds a foot-long pipette containing a clear liquid. She transfers the pipette’s contents into a small test tube, which is seated in a blue test tube rack.
A scanning electron microscope image of a micrometeorite impact crater in a particle of asteroid Bennu material. Scientists found microscopic...
A sample from asteroid Bennu is seen prepared on a microscope slide, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at the Smithsonian’s National...
Ann Nguyen, co-lead author of a new paper that gives insights into the diverse origin of asteroid Bennu’s “parent” asteroid...
A woman sits in front of a computer with two monitors on a desk. Scientific instruments and the OSIRIS-REx logo are visible behind her.
The first public display of a sample from asteroid Bennu is seen, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at the Smithsonian’s National...
A top-down view of one of the containers holding rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, with hardware scale marked in...
An image of a pizza-wedge-shaped, silver-colored tray with the pointy end at the top center of the image. In the tray is a pile of small, dark rocks and dust that fill most of the tray. Toward the left bottom corner of the tray is a larger rock that is slightly lighter in color and roughly shaped like a heart on its side.
OSIRIS REx curation team attempting to remove the two stuck fasteners that are currently prohibiting the complete opening of the...
OSIRIS REx curation team attempting to remove the two stuck fasteners that are currently prohibiting the complete opening of the...
OSIRIS REx curation team attempting to remove the two stuck fasteners that are currently prohibiting the complete opening of the...
Astromaterials processor Mari Montoya shows a hand heart while working in the OSIRIS-REx canister glovebox at NASA’s Johnson Space Center...
A person in a clean room hood and mask reaches into a glove box containing the OSIRIS-REx TAGSAM capsule. They use the white gloves extending into the glove box to make a hand heart. The capsule is a squat silver cylinder, sitting on thin legs. The glove box is clear and has a trapezoidal top, so users can lean slightly over and see down into what they’re doing.
The OSIRIS-REx curation integrated processing and engineering team in the H2-OREx Staging area just outside the pristine OSIRIS-REx laboratory. Left-to-right...
A group of people pose together in white lab coats and hair coverings. They are smiling inside a lab.
Scientists in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center study samples retrieved by the...
Four people in head to toe white clean room suits huddle around a table with microscopes in a white clean room. Two of them are holding and referencing papers.
A view of the TAGSAM (Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) from above, showing the Mylar flap with a pile...
The TAGSAM head from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is circular metallic head, with concentric circles. The outer ring contains many small circles containing small particles of black dust. The inner circular segment contains small rocks.
OSIRIS-REx curator Nicole Lunning, left, and deputy curator Christopher Snead stand inside the OSIRIS-REx cleanroom at NASA's Johnson Space Center...
Two people in clean room suits pose on the other side of a window, into a clean room. The clean room contains a trapezoidal box with silver edges.
A container with the science canister from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen aboard a C-17 Globemaster aircraft, Monday, Sept. 25,...
A silver box, strapped into place and decorated with stickers that indicate it is fragile and contains flight hardware.
Curation teams process the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the...
Several people stand outside a small, enclosed, windowed room, looking in. Inside the room, people in white clean room suits work on the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, which sits on a platform.
Curation teams process the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the...
Five people in white clean room suits with hoods and masks inside a small, mobile clean room. They are working on the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, which sits on a platform.
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is transferred to a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department...
Several people, wearing various levels of protective gear, walk with a wheeled platform. The platform holds the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, which is a squat black pentagon. They are wheeling the platform through a hangar toward an enclosed room with the NASA meatball logo.
Curation teams process the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the...
Three people in white clean room suits with hoods and masks inside a small, mobile clean room. They are working on the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, which sits on a platform.
On Scene Commander of Recovery Jasmine Nakayama attaches the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to a helicopter for...
The OSIRIS-REx sample capsule hangs suspended from a helicopter by a long line against a bright blue sky and the desert below. A woman looks up at the capsule as it departs.⁣
Recovery team members prepare the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission for transport to the cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24,...
Two people carry the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, now wrapped in protective tarp, onto a net laid on the desert ground. Three other people are standing nearby to help. A helicopter sits in the background.
University of Arizona OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta, second from the left, answers questions from reporters during an OSIRIS-REx sample...
A line of people sitting and smiling. They are wearing matching gray OSIRIS-REx polos.
From left to right, NASA Astromatierals Curator Francis McCubbin, NASA Sample Return Capsule Science Lead Scott Sandford, and University of...
Three men look at the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule in the desert.
From left to right, NASA Astromaterials Curator Francis McCubbin, University of Arizona OSIRIS-REx Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta, and NASA Sample...
Three people stand in the desert. A white helicopter flies away, against a blue sky.
Lockheed Martin Recovery Specialist Levi Hanish, left, and Lockheed Martin Recovery Specialist Michael Kaye, right, transfer the sample return capsule...
Two men, wearing gloves, carry the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule. They have just lifted it off the desert ground. The capsule is black, a squat cylinder with a flat, conical lid.
From left to right, NASA Sample Return Capsule Science Lead Scott Sandford, NASA Astromaterials Curator Francis McCubbin, and University of...
Three men look at the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule in the desert. One is kneeling, two are standing. ⁣
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24,...
Black, top-shaped sample return capsule sits on the desert ground with flags surrounding it.
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24,...
Black, top-shaped sample return capsule sits on the desert ground.