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Atlas V Rocket Engines Roar to Life for OSIRIS-Rex

Atlas V Rocket Engines Roar to Life for OSIRIS-Rex
Atlas V Rocket Engines Roar to Life for OSIRIS-Rex

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study. Liftoff was at 7:05 p.m. EDT. The asteroid, Bennu, may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of water and organic molecules found on Earth.

Photo credit: NASA/Sandy Joseph and Tim Terry