May 26, 2020

On May 20, the OSIRIS-REx mission officially announced that it has targeted Oct. 20 for its first sample collection attempt. Due to COVID-19 constraints and after the intense preparation for the first rehearsal, the OSIRIS-REx mission has decided to provide its team with an additional two months of preparation time this summer for both the final rehearsal and the sample collection event. The second rehearsal, formally known as Matchpoint, is now scheduled for Aug. 11. The mission remains on schedule to depart Bennu in mid-2021, and will return the sample to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

This week, the team also continued preparations for the Recon C flyover of backup sample site Osprey – scheduled for May 26. The spacecraft performed two phasing burns, R4P1 and R4P2, to adjust its position and velocity for the flyover’s orbit departure maneuver.