Media are invited to Utahs western desert on Wednesday, Aug. 30, to learn about NASA preparations and readiness to receive Americas 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 SecurityRegolith Explorer) sample capsules landing and recovery plans from the Department of Defenses Utah Test and Training Range no earlier than 5 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. MDT). The news conference will air on NASA Television, theNASA app, and the agencyswebsite.
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 capsules 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, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
- Sandra Freund, OSIRIS-REx program manager, Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado
- Kevin Righter, OSIRIS-REx deputy curation lead, NASAs Johnson Space Center, Houston
U.S. media interested in attending the news conference in-person must register online 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.
