NASA has planned coverage of the landing of its initial asteroid sample mission.
On Sunday, the sample capsule for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security—Regolith Explorer (OSIriS-REx) is supposed to re-enter the atmosphere and come back to Earth, landing in Utah.
The first asteroid sample that NASA has ever gathered in orbit will touch down on Earth on Sunday, Sept. 24, according to a news release issued by NASA on Monday.
Launched on September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx arrived to the near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu on December 3, 2018.
On October 20, 2020, the spacecraft touched down on the surface after spending two years looking for a site on the asteroid to harvest a sample.
On Sunday at 10 a.m. EDT, NASA TV and the NASA app will begin to broadcast coverage of the sample capsule’s return to Earth.
If the mission goes according to plan, a post-recovery news conference will take place at around 5 o’clock.
According to NASA, in order to release the sample capsule into the atmosphere and have it land in the vicinity of the Defense Department’s Utah Test and Training Range, where it will be collected, the spacecraft must fly at a precise angle and speed.
