NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaks to members of the launch team in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center after the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaks to members of the launch team in the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center after the launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) from the Atlas V Spaceflight Operations Center on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. 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.
Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky