Asteroid Bennu Sample Retrieved for Study | NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission
On Scene Commander of Recovery, Jasmine Nakayama, attaches the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to a helicopter for transport to the cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed in the Utah desert.
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen en route to the cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed in the Utah desert.
The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is lowered into the parking lot in front of the cleanroom hangar by helicopter, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023.
From left to right, Lockheed Martin Mission Operations Assurance Lead Graham Miller, Lockheed Martin Recovery Specialist Michael Kaye, and Lockheed Martin Recovery Specialist Levi Hanish, prepare the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission for transport, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed.
On Scene Commander of Recovery, Jasmine Nakayama, attaches the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to a helicopter for transport to the cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed.
A capsule containing a sample of asteroid Bennu from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission is seen en route to a local cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed in the Utah desert.
At 12:37 p.m. EDT (10:37 a.m. MDT), a helicopter gently placed NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample capsule, attached to the end of a 100-foot cable, on the ground outside a hangar on the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. Two technicians on the ground helped guide the capsule down.
Once the helicopter line was detached and the helicopter had departed, the clean room team removed the capsule from its metal transport cradle. They loaded the capsule onto a cart and wheeled it into the hangar where a temporary clean room had been set up. In the hangar, the capsule was fully unwrapped and cleaned, and then taken into the clean room for disassembly.
To protect the clean room from contaminants, only six people are allowed inside. Covered from head to toe in bunny suits, hoods, nitrile gloves, shoe covers, plus hair and beard covers, their job is to disassemble the capsule and remove the unopened sample canister inside. They will package all the parts for transport by aircraft to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday morning.
Follow sample-delivery updates on NASA's OSIRIS-REx blog:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/
OSIRIS-REx NASA page: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
University of Arizona's OSIRIS-REx Mission Page: http://www.asteroidmission.org
Image Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Image Capture Date: Sept. 24, 2023
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