The sample capsule will parachute into the Utah desert as its mothership, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, zooms off for an encounter with another asteroid.
The asteroid samples will be handled inside nitrogen-purging gloveboxes by staff in head-to-toe clean room suits.
ASTEROID AUTUMNThis fall is what NASA is calling Asteroid Autumn, with three asteroid missions marking major milestones.
Both the NASA spacecraft and its target — a metal asteroid — are named Psyche.
Japan’s first asteroid sample mission returned microscopic grains from asteroid Itokawa in 2010.
Persons:
—, ”, University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta, Rex, Bennu, Lauretta, NASA’s, Johnson, Kevin Righter, Lucy
Organizations:
NASA, University of Arizona’s, Empire, Defense Department’s Utah, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Apollo, Soviet Union, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP
Locations:
Utah, Japan, Bennu, Colorado, Houston, Antarctica, Cape Canaveral , Florida, U.S, China