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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-media-for-asteroid-capsule-drop-test-briefing-in-utah
NASA to Host Media for Asteroid Capsule Drop Test Briefing in Utah | NASA
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Asteroids (/mission_pages/asteroids/main/index.html)
Aug 10, 2023
MEDIA ADVISORY M23-101
NASA to Host Media for
Asteroid Capsule Drop Test
Briefing in Utah
(/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/sample_return_training.jpg)
Recovery teams participate in field rehearsals in preparation for the retrieval of the
sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, Tuesday, July 18,
2023, at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. The sample
was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx
spacecraft and will return to Earth on September 24th, landing under parachute at
the Utah Test and Training Range.
Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber
Media are invited to Utah’s western desert on Wednesday, Aug.
30, to learn about NASA preparations and readiness to receive
America’s first asteroid sample collected in space.
As part of the visit, NASA will host a news conference on the
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource
Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer) sample capsule’s
landing and recovery plans from the Department of Defense’s
Utah Test and Training Range no earlier than 5 p.m. EDT (3
p.m. MDT). The news conference will air on NASA Television,
the NASA app (https://www.nasa.gov/connect/apps.html), and
the agency’s website (https://www.nasa.gov/live).
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8/12/23, 10:30 AM NASA to Host Media for Asteroid Capsule Drop Test Briefing in Utah | NASA

In addition to the news conference, in-person participants will

Surprise Again! Asteroid Bennu
have the opportunity to interview OSIRIS-REx mission team
members, tour the temporary clean room where the sample
capsule will be dissembled, and visit the edge of the capsule’s
landing area.

News conference participants are:

Melissa Morris, OSIRIS-REx program executive, NASA

Headquarters, Washington
Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator,
University of Arizona, Tucson
Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager,
Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado
Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead, NASA’s
Johnson Space Center, Houston

U.S. media interested in attending the news conference in-

person must register online (https://socialforms.nasa.gov/osiris-
rex-asteroid-sample-return-media-coverage-interest-form) by 3
p.m. MDT (5 p.m. EDT) on Monday, Aug. 14. NASA will email
additional details about the news conference after confirmations
of attendance.

To participate in the news conference virtually, media must send

their full name, affiliation, email address, and phone number no
later than two hours before the start of the call to Alana Johnson
at: alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
(mailto:alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov).

A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy

(https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-agencywide-media-
accreditation-policy) is available online.

On Sept. 24, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will approach Earth

and release its sample return capsule into the atmosphere on a
path to land at the Utah Test and Training Range. 

The touchdown will mark the end of a seven-year journey to

explore asteroid Bennu, collect a sample from its surface, and
deliver it to Earth for study. Scientists around the world will study
the sample over the coming decades to learn about how our
planet and solar system formed, as well as the origin of organics
that may have led to life on Earth.

During the week of Aug. 30, the OSIRIS-REx mission team is

testing their landing and recovery plans with the goal of reducing
the time to safely retrieve the sample capsule from the desert
floor and transport it to a clean room on base, protecting the
rocks and dust collected from the surface of Bennu from earthly
contaminants.

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8/12/23, 10:30 AM NASA to Host Media for Asteroid Capsule Drop Test Briefing in Utah | NASA

Find more information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission at:

https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
(https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex)

-end-

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson

NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1275 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
(mailto:karen.c.fox@nasa.gov) / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
(mailto:alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov)⁠

Rani Gran / Rob Garner

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-332-6975 / 301-286-5687
rani.c.gran@nasa.gov
(mailto:rani.c.gran@nasa.gov) / rob.garner@nasa.gov
(mailto:rob.garner@nasa.gov)

Last Updated: Aug 11, 2023

Editor: Roxana Bardan

Tags:  Asteroids (/mission_pages/asteroids/main/index.html),

Bennu (https://www.nasa.gov/bennu), Goddard Space Flight Center
(/centers/goddard/home/index.html), NASA Headquarters
(/centers/hq/home/index.html), OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral
Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer)
(http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html), Solar
System (/topics/solarsystem/index.html)

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