Atlas V Ready to Launch OSIRIS-REx

At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with a single-engine Centaur upper stage stands ready to boost NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. 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. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EDT.

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett