Hey guys I'm back and today I'll be talking about what's happening in space right now. The topic I'll be talking about is OSIRIS-REx.OSIRIS-REx is the first asteroid sampling mission by NASA. Launched at 7:05pm EDT on the 8th of September 2016, OSIRIS-REx is on a mission to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu. Bennu is the size of a small mountain and is located between Venus and Mars. Every six years Bennu has a close encounter with Earth and in 2135 it will come very close, just within the Moon's orbit. OSIRIS-REx will orbit the sun for a year then, using Earth's gravity, it will sling itself to Bennu. It is expected to approach Bennu in 2018 and in 2020, perform a maneuver in which it will collect samples of the asteroid. In September 2023 OSIRIS-REx will return the samples back to Earth.
So that was the second post for this week and I'll see you guys next time.
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