OSIRIS-REx Live Shots

NASA scientists are available on Thursday, Sept. 8th from 6:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. and again 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. EDT – just hours before NASA’s FIRST-EVER asteroid sample return mission launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida – to find out why NASA is going to this asteroid, and what mysteries it might unlock about how life started on Earth and whether life could have started elsewhere in our solar system. We also have a Spanish-speaking scientist available.

On Thursday September 8th at 7:05 p.m. EDT, NASA will launch the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer – or OSIRIS-REx – spacecraft that will travel to a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. Asteroids are rocky debris left over from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. They’ve changed little over time, making Bennu a pristine time capsule of the building blocks of our solar system.

Crews in the local Washington/Baltimore area are invited out to Goddard Space Flight Center for a launch viewing event + availability for interviews with scientists Sept 8th from 4:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. EDT at the Visitors Center. RSVP information is here.

To book a window – contact: Michelle Handleman at michelle.z.handleman@nasa.gov.

HD Satellite Coordinates for AMC9-K23AB: AMC-9 Ku-band Xp 23 Slot AB| 83.0 ° W Longitude | DL 12151.0 MHz | Horizontal Polarity | QPSK/DVB-S | FEC 3/4 | SR 13.235 Mbps | DR 18.2954 MHz | HD 720p | Format MPEG2 | Chroma Level 4:2:0 | Audio Embedded

Suggested Questions:

1. Later today NASA will launch its first-ever sample return mission to an asteroid. Tell us more about this mission.

2. Could asteroids contain the chemical precursors for life on Earth and in the solar system?

3. You have a really interesting way to “kiss the asteroid” to collect a sample. Can you show us how you’re going do that?

4. What will scientists do with the sample once it returns to Earth?

5. Where can we learn more?

Live Shot Details:

Locations:

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station/ Cape Canaveral, Florida (from 6am-9am and 4pm-6pm)

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Greenbelt, Maryland (from 9am-2pm)

Scientists:

Dr. Jim Green / Director, NASA Planetary Science Division

Dr. Ellen Stofan / NASA Chief Scientist

Dr. Jim Garvin / NASA Goddard Chief Scientist

Dr. Lucy McFadden / NASA Scientist

Dr. Geronimo Villanueva/ NASA Scientist [Interviews in Spanish]

See www.nasa.gov/osirisrex