Oct. 30, 2023
A chest-mounted 360-degree camera captured exclusive, first-person footage of the celebratory moments immediately after the landing of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule on Sept. 24.
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The footage, seen from the perspective of Dante Lauretta, the mission's principal investigator and Regents Professor of planetary sciences, shows Lauretta celebrating with other mission team members, approaching the capsule and working through recovery protocols.
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Minutes before the recovery team arrived, the capsule executed a pinpoint landing on its nose in the Utah desert after blazing through Earth's atmosphere, charring its exterior, but protecting the precious cargo of rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu within.