OSIRIS-REx launched to asteroid Bennu

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft was launched by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 configuration rocket from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on 8 September 2016, at 23:05 UTC (19:05 EDT). OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid (near-Earth asteroid Bennu), retrieve surface material and return it to Earth for study. Credit: NASA