First U.S. Sample Return Mission to an Asteroid Previewed

On Sept. 6, NASA previewed the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx mission, during a pre-launch news conference at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid. The spacecraft is targeted to launch Sept. 8 at 7:05 p.m. EDT to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, arriving in 2018, to survey the surface, retrieve at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of surface material, and return it to Earth i