OSIRIS-REx : NASA : Awesome : Image via Link

Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is an ongoing NASA asteroid study and sample return mission. The cost of the mission will be approximately USD $800 million, not including the $183.5 million Atlas V launch vehicle  !


The launch occurred on September 8, 2016. The mission is to study asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid and in 2023 to return a sample to Earth for detailed analysis.

If successful, OSIRIS-REx will be the first US spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid.

It is the third planetary science mission selected in the New Frontiers Program, after Juno and New Horizons. The Principal Investigator is Dante Lauretta from the University of Arizona.

This content was adopted from the wikipedia page < clickable link to parent article! 

Also worth your time ^^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Launch_Alliance