WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Pins for NASA's NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission are seen on the lapel of Director of NASA's Launch Services Program in the Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate James Norman as he monitors the countdown for the launch of the Untied Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from the Atlas Spacecraft Operations Center on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study. The asteroid, Bennu, may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water and organic molecules found on Earth.