NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Zips Off To Collect Asteroid Sample

Sarah Benton Feitlinger
Sat, 09 Dec 2017 12:35:26 -0800

After almost a year of orbiting the sun, on September 22, 2017, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) made its closest flyby of Earth. Moving at speeds of about 19,000 mph, the spacecraft passed within 11,000 miles of the planet’s surface just south of Chile, before zooming over Antarctica.