(AGENPARL) – gio 10 agosto 2023 August 10, 2023 
MEDIA ADVISORY M23-101
*NASA to Host Media for Asteroid Capsule Drop Test Briefing in Utah*
sample_return_training.jpg
Recovery teams participate in field rehearsals in preparation for the
retrieval of the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission,
Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training
Range. The sample was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and will return to Earth on September 24th,
landing under parachute at the Utah Test and Training Range.
*/Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber/*
Media are invited to Utah’s western desert on Wednesday, Aug. 30, to learn
about NASA preparations and readiness to receive America’s first asteroid
sample collected in space.
As part of the visit, NASA will host a news conference on the OSIRIS-REx
(Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and
Security–Regolith Explorer) sample capsule’s landing and recovery plans
from the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range no earlier
than 5 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. MDT). The news conference will air on NASA
Television, the NASA app [1], and the agency’s website [2].
In addition to the news conference, in-person participants will have the
opportunity to interview OSIRIS-REx mission team members, tour the temporary
clean room where the sample capsule will be dissembled, and visit the edge of
the capsule’s landing area.
News conference participants are:
* Melissa Morris, OSIRIS-REx program executive, NASA Headquarters,
Washington
* Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator, University of Arizona,
Tucson
* Rich Burns, OSIRIS-REx project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
* Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager, Lockheed Martin, Littleton,
Colorado
* Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead, NASA’s Johnson Space
Center, Houston
U.S. media interested in attending the news conference in-person must
register online [3] by 3 p.m. MDT (5 p.m. EDT) on Monday, Aug. 14. NASA will
email additional details about the news conference after confirmations of
attendance.
To participate in the news conference virtually, media must send their full
name, affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours
[4].
A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy [5] is available online.
On Sept. 24, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will approach Earth and release its
sample return capsule into the atmosphere on a path to land at the Utah Test
and Training Range. 
The touchdown will mark the end of a seven-year journey to explore asteroid
Bennu, collect a sample from its surface, and deliver it to Earth for study.
Scientists around the world will study the sample over the coming decades to
learn about how our planet and solar system formed, as well as the origin of
organics that may have led to life on Earth.
During the week of Aug. 30, the OSIRIS-REx mission team is testing their
landing and recovery plans with the goal of reducing the time to safely
retrieve the sample capsule from the desert floor and transport it to a clean
room on base, protecting the rocks and dust collected from the surface of
Bennu from earthly contaminants.
Find more information about NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission at:
*https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex [6]*
-end-
*Press Contacts*
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1275 / 202-358-1501
Rani Gran / Rob Garner
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-332-6975 / 301-286-5687
NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by
text in the body is required).
To unsubscribe from the list, send an e-mail message
is required).
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/connect/apps.html
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/live
[3] https://socialforms.nasa.gov/osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-return-media-coverage-interest-form
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-agencywide-media-accreditation-policy
[6] https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex