After ground teams retrieve the capsule,
the BENNU samples will be taken to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The sample canister will be opened in the Astromaterials Acquisition
and Curation Facility.
In the samples will be curated, distributed and studied
for decades to come.
Having delivered its cargo, the Osiris-rex spacecraft
will depart Earth, but its journey will not quite be finished.
In a daring encore, the renamed Osiris-Apex will enter
an elliptical orbit of the sun, repeatedly passing within the orbit
of Venus and pushing the limits of its thermal design.
Beginning in 2029, it will chase down
and investigate Apophis, a 1200 foot stony asteroid
destined to make an exceptionally close flyby of Earth.
After 13 years in deep space
at the start of a new decade alone on a new world, the journey will continue.