This image of the OSIRIS-REx sample return pill still connected to the spacecrafts instrument deck was captured by the spacecrafts StowCam cam on September 23 at 10:37:55 a.m. EDT (14:37:55 UTC), less than 24 hours before the pills release. StowCam, a color imager, is among 3 video cameras making up TAGCAMS (the Touch-and-Go Camera System), which belongs to OSIRIS-RExs navigation, assistance, and control system. TAGCAMS was developed, built, and tested by Malin Space Science Systems; Lockheed Martin integrated TAGCAMS to the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and runs TAGCAMS. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin
After years of anticipation and effort by NASAs OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security– Regolith Explorer) team, a capsule of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu returned to Earth on September 24 in a targeted area of the Department of Defenses Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.
This black-and-white series of OSIRIS-RExs sample return pill descent toward Earth originates from TAGCAMSs NavCam 1 and was taken in the minutes after the capsules release from the spacecraft on September 24, 2023. The Sun shows up at the top of the frame, and a thin “crescent Earth” can be seen at the left edge of the image. OSIRIS-RExs NavCams are used for optical navigation of the spacecraft. NavCam images tracked star-fields and landmarks on Bennu to determine the spacecrafts position during objective operations. This sequence of images has been processed to get rid of the majority of the scattered sunlight, draw out more detail of the pill and release particles cloud, and avoid the Earth crescent from saturating. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin
A couple of hours before the landing, OSIRIS-REx took a few of its final views of its own sample return pill. Doppler information validated that the spacecraft released its sample capsule toward Earth as planned, from 63,000 miles of Earths surface area– about one-third the distance from Earth to the Moon.
Charred from its journey through Earths atmosphere, the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule is shown here soon following its landing on September 24 in Utahs Great Salt Lake Desert. Shortly after this image was taken, the capsule was transported to a short-term tidy room at the Department of Defenses Utah Test and Training Range, and after that flown on September 26 to Houston and transferred to NASAs Johnson Space Center there. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Following a flight aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft on September 26, the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule was taken into a tailored tidy room at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. Meanwhile, the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft– on a new mission with a brand-new name– is on a course towards asteroid Apophis, which it will reach in 2029.
This image of the OSIRIS-REx sample return pill still connected to the spacecrafts instrument deck was caught by the spacecrafts StowCam video camera on September 23 at 10:37:55 a.m. EDT (14:37:55 UTC), less than 24 hours before the capsules release. This black-and-white sequence of OSIRIS-RExs sample return capsule descent towards Earth comes from TAGCAMSs NavCam 1 and was taken in the moments after the capsules release from the spacecraft on September 24, 2023. Charred from its journey through Earths environment, the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule is revealed here shortly following its landing on September 24 in Utahs Great Salt Lake Desert.
