Tag: AV-067
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Atlas 5 rocket cleared to launch NASA probe to Asteroid Bennu
An Atlas 5-411 will launch OSIRIS-REx. Credit: United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — Mission leaders Tuesday gave approval for rollout of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket to its pad on Wednesday morning, leading to liftoff Thursday evening of a NASA probe to rendezvous with an asteroid and bring a sample back to Earth.…
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Video: Atlas/OSIRIS-REx pre-launch and mission science press briefings
Watch the pre-launch news conference from the Kennedy Space Center to preview the flight of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return spacecraft aboard a ULA Atlas 5 rocket on Sept. 8. The briefing participants are: Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of…
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Preview: NASA craft launches Thursday seeking the seeds of life on asteroid
An artist’s concept of OSIRIS-REx at Asteroid Bennu. Credit: Lockheed Martin CAPE CANAVERAL — What began as a concept scribbled on a cocktail napkin in a Tucson bar 12 years ago — sending a spacecraft to an asteroid and retrieving a pristine sample to bring back to Earth for study — becomes reality Thursday with…
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Weather forecast favorable for Atlas 5 to launch NASA asteroid probe Thursday
File photo of Atlas 5. Credit: United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — Prognosticators are predicting favorable weather conditions to launch an Atlas 5 rocket Thursday and send NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its interplanetary journey to interrogate an asteroid and collect a surface sample for return to Earth. The Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron at Cape…
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Asteroid probe apparently unharmed in nearby SpaceX explosion, passes its FRR
The encapsulated OSIRIS-REx was lifted into the VIF on Monday. Credit: NASA-KSC/Dimitri Gerondidakis CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA says initial checks show no damage to the Atlas 5 rocket or the agency’s asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft that stood within the Vertical Integration Facility just a mile away from the SpaceX explosion Thursday. The United Launch Alliance vehicle…
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Animation of OSIRIS-REx mission from liftoff to return home
This NASA animation depicts the OSIRIS-REx mission beginning with liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 8, embarking on a voyage to rendezvous and orbit Asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft will use its cameras, laser and spectrometer instruments to map the mountain-size rock starting in late 2018 before performing…
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Probe hoisted aboard launcher to leave Earth next week on asteroid adventure
File photo of Atlas payload lift and mate. Credit: United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft today moved a step closer to starting a voyage to explore an uncharted world in our solar system — the mountain-sized Asteroid Bennu — by joining the booster rocket that will propel it from Earth next week.…
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Atlas 5 rocket rehearses countdown for upcoming launch to Asteroid Bennu
The venting Atlas 5 during today’s WDR. Credit: NASA-KSC/Kim Shiflett CAPE CANAVERAL — Running through a practice countdown to check systems before launching a NASA sample-return probe to Asteroid Bennu in exactly two weeks, an Atlas 5 successfully completed its Wet Dress Rehearsal today. The United Launch Alliance rocket will propel the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on…
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Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled for launch of asteroid sample return probe
At Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility, adjacent to the Complex 41 launch pad, workers with United Launch Alliance stacked the Atlas 5 rocket that will propel NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its voyage to Asteroid Bennu. On Monday, Aug. 8, the first stage was erected onto the mobile launch platform parked inside the assembly building. A…
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One of NASA’s cleanest spacecraft ever is ready to fly
A member of the OSIRIS-REx team prepares the spacecraft for launch Sept. 8. The Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing is in the background. Credit: Ben Cooper/Launchphotography.com Five years after winning $1 billion from NASA to mount the first U.S. asteroid sample return mission, scientists and engineers will get their last look at the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…