Centaur Upper Stage Arrives at Pad for OSIRIS-REx

A Centaur upper stage, standing upright on a transporter, is prepared to be lifted and attached to the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket first stage booster at Space Launch Complex 41 on Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket will boost NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Targeted for liftoff Sept. 8, 2016, 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.

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett