OSIRIS-REx – Page 6 – Spaceflight Now

Video: Asteroid sampler craft delivered to launch site

May 24, 2016 Justin Ray

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the spacecraft that will grab a piece of Asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth, shipped to Kennedy Space Center from the Lockheed Martin production facilities in Denver on May 20 aboard an Air Force C-17.

NASA probe that will make round trip to asteroid and back sent to launch base

May 20, 2016 Justin Ray

Equipped with a robot arm, sample collector and return capsule, NASA’s asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx probe emerged from its pristine factory and flew to the launch site in Florida on Friday.

New lineup spelled out for upcoming Atlas 5 rocket launches from the Cape

May 3, 2016 Justin Ray

The revised Atlas 5 rocket firing order includes two national security missions this summer before launching NASA’s daring asteroid sampler mission in September as originally planned.

2016 manifest preview: United Launch Alliance’s busy year ahead

January 2, 2016 Justin Ray

Some of America’s most critical surveillance satellites, final members of other spacecraft series and a probe that will touch an asteroid are among 15 rocket flights planned by United Launch Alliance in 2016.

Assembly complete for NASA’s asteroid sample return spacecraft

October 25, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s first asteroid-sampling probe, OSIRIS-REx, has been assembled at a Lockheed Martin satellite factory in Colorado and is now being tested to ensure it can withstand the harsh journey to an asteroid and back.

Bonus fuel could change OSIRIS-REx flight plan

February 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

A NASA spacecraft under construction for launch in 2016 to retrieve samples from asteroid Bennu could benefit from an extra load of fuel, allowing an extended stay at the asteroid or a return to Earth a year early.

NASA, JAXA reach asteroid sample-sharing agreement

December 15, 2014 Stephen Clark

Scientists from the United States and Japan plan to share asteroid specimens from the OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa 2 sample return missions under an agreement signed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.