OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission heads for Earth flyby

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, en route to asteroid Bennu to retrieve samples and return them to scientists, will slingshot past Earth on Friday, using gravity to change its trajectory for a rendezvous with its target late next year. One year since it launched from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, OSIRIS-REx will return to Earth on Friday with a high-speed encounter taking the probe about 11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) above Earth. The solar-powered spacecraft will make its closest approach to Earth at 1652 GMT (12:52 p.m. EDT) Friday, passing over Antarctica, just south of Cape Horn, Chile. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 22)