OSIRIS-REx put itself on course for Earth with a crucial thruster firing on Sunday (Sept. 10).
Monday's maneuver kept OSIRIS-REx on track to deliver a capsule containing that material to Earth on the morning of Sept. 24.
"Traveling at a precise speed and angle, it [the return capsule] will land approximately 13 minutes after release in a 36-mile by 8.5-mile predetermined area on the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range southwest of Salt Lake City," NASA officials wrote in Monday's update. This graphic shows the Earth return trajectory for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and for the sample capsule, after the spacecraft releases it above Earth on Sept. 24. The yellow diamonds indicate the dates of spacecraft maneuvers that slightly adjust its trajectory to get it closer, and then pointing at, and then above Earth.
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