>The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security - Regolith Explorer spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36), and bring at least a 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth for study. The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.
>OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch Sept. 8, 2016, at 7:05 p.m. EDT. As planned, the spacecraft will reach its asteroid target in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023.
Launch vehicle: ULA Atlas V 411
Hudson Martin
I'm glad that NASA went with a reliable launch service provider rather than a meme company like SpaceX.
Henry Smith
well, you get what you pay for
Henry Gutierrez
OSIRIS-RExplosion?
Jeremiah Barnes
...
Bentley Richardson
Reminder: Atlas V had a serious launch anomaly as recently as this March, when the Atlas V first stage had an early shutdown, and the mission only succeeded due to Atlas V being far oversized for the payload (the lightest configuration of Atlas V can put ~10 tons in LEO, while under 7 tons was being launched).
This will be the third flight after Atlas V's return to flight following the anomaly, and it's a high-energy mission. A similar anomaly would likely result in mission failure this time.
Benjamin Brooks
t. retard whose rocket is grounded yet again from their annual unplanned explosion
Nolan Foster
>carbon bearing asteroid >bringing back samples
inb4 a world ending virus or microorganism
Michael Cooper
Before March's anomaly, the last Atlas-V anomaly was in 2007. Atlas-V has one of the best records of any launch vehicle.
Ethan Young
and March's anomaly didn't even result in a mission failure
