http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/science/nasa-launches-osiris-rex-spacecraft-to-retrieve-asteroid-pieces.html 2016-09-09 02:09:51 NASA Launches Osiris-Rex Spacecraft to Retrieve Asteroid Pieces The craft is set to return to Earth in seven years with bits of a nearby asteroid that would give scientists a window on some of the material that made up the early solar system. === NASA The Twelve minutes after liftoff, the second-stage engine of the Atlas 5 shut off, leaving Osiris-Rex in orbit around Earth. The engine was to fire again to kick the spacecraft onto a path around the sun. A year from now, Osiris-Rex is to swing back around and make a close flyby of Earth, using the planet’s gravity to tilt the angle of its orbit to match that of Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid that is 1,600 feet in diameter and has an orbit around the sun similar to Earth’s. It is about as wide as the Osiris-Rex — a shortening of Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer — will catch up to Bennu in 2018, entering orbit for more than a year of observation to allow scientists to figure out where they want to scoop their sample. The spacecraft will then swoop in and touch Bennu’s surface for a few seconds, using a burst of nitrogen to kick up pebbles and dirt. Osiris-Rex is to leave Bennu in 2021 and drop off the asteroid samples in 2023.