Snapshots from Atlas 5 launch

Flying on autopilot more than 200 million miles from Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on track for a daring touch and go landing on an asteroid Tuesday to grab a sample for return to scientists eager to scan the specimens for clues about the history of the solar system.

One week after a Russian Soyuz spacecraft departed the International Space Station and brought three crew members back to Earth, another Soyuz carrying a veteran cosmonaut and a first-time NASA flight engineer is ready for launch Thursday on a quick four-orbit flight to the orbiting lab complex.

This is the ascent timeline to be followed by the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in launching the Mobile User Objective System satellite No. 5 on Friday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).