Osiris Rex: Countdown to Launch

Episode 1 of 1

Sitting on an asteroid, more than a 100 million miles away from Earth, are a few ounces of soil scientists are anxiously awaiting to get their hands on - a sample that just might contain the molecular precursors to the origin of life. But just how will these scientists accomplish this? The half-hour documentary OSIRIS-REX: COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH follows a multi-generational team of scientists and engineers as they struggle to design, construct, and deliver on time the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and its components to NASA in anticipation of its September 2016 launch from Cape Canaveral. OSIRIS-REx is expected to travel more than 400 million miles to rendezvous with an asteroid named Bennu, whose diameter is less than half a mile. It will then use its suite of instruments to find the perfect place to gather a sample from the asteroid's surface, traveling another 400 million miles and a total of six years to bring that sample back to Earth. NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission is a 14-year, one billion dollar study aimed at learning more about one of the most fascinating and potentially hazardous asteroids in the solar system - before it potentially collides with Earth more than 150 years from now.

Previously Aired

Day
Time
Channel
9/12/2017
8 p.m.
9/13/2017
3:31 a.m.
9/22/2017
2:30 p.m.
9/22/2017
6 p.m.
9/22/2017
10:30 p.m.
9/23/2017
3:30 a.m.
9/23/2017
10:30 a.m.
9/23/2017
4:30 p.m.
9/24/2017
11:30 p.m.
9/25/2017
1:30 a.m.
9/27/2017
2:30 p.m.
1/6/2018
6:30 p.m.
1/7/2018
11:30 a.m.
1/10/2018
11:30 p.m.
6/17/2018
10:30 a.m.
7/8/2018
2:30 p.m.
12/2/2018
7:30 p.m.
12/3/2018
5:30 a.m.
12/3/2018
3:30 p.m.
12/4/2018
1:30 a.m.
12/4/2018
6:30 p.m.
12/8/2018
noon
12/8/2018
7:30 p.m.
12/9/2018
11:30 a.m.
12/13/2018
2:30 p.m.
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