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OSIRIS-REx lifts off aboard an Atlas V rocket. After a minute, it goes supersonic. After 90 seconds, it reaches peak stress due to the combination of velocity and remaining atmosphere. At two minutes, it is going 2,500 miles per hour, weighs half what it did at liftoff, and is headed for space.

Sep 11, 2016
From July, inspecting the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA.

By the time the spacecraft arrives at Bennu in 2018, there will be no spacecraft visiting or en route to any of the outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—for the first time since 1979.

In a hostile funding environment, OSIRIS-REx's launch is a bright spot in an otherwise dim picture for space exploration.
↩︎ The Planetary Society
Sep 11, 2016
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