On September 24, 2023, a capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission floated again to Earth, touchdown safely in the Utah desert. The mission was the first time the U.S. introduced again a bit of an asteroid and a giant second for the area company. The history-making success of OSIRIS-REx options prominently in NASA HQ’S Best of 2023 photos album, just lately curated and shared on Flickr.
Other milestone moments documented in the photos embody the Psyche spacecraft launch, the SpaceX Dragon Endurance touchdown, and the Earthly return of Frank Rubio, the file holder for longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut.
The Soyuz rocket is seen after being rolled out by practice to the launch pad at Site 31, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on Sept. 15. Image: NASA/Bill IngallsA coaching mannequin of the pattern return capsule is seen throughout a drop take a look at in preparation for the retrieval of the pattern return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The pattern was collected from asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and can return to Earth on September twenty fourth, touchdown underneath parachute at the Utah Test and Training Range. Image: NASA/Keegan BarberSupport groups elevate the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft aboard the restoration ship MEGAN shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev aboard in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev are returning after practically six-months in area as half of Expedition 69 aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Joel KowskyIn this eight-minute lengthy publicity, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the firm’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov onboard, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Also seen on this picture is the entry burn and touchdown burn, at proper, carried out by the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket because it returned to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as half of the company’s Commercial Crew Program. Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov launched at 3:27 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to start a six month mission aboard the orbital outpost. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky(*13*)The Soyuz rocket is launched with Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Image: NASA/Bill IngallsMembers of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Flight Operations group are seen working a helicopter as the pattern return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is is en path to the cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, shortly after the capsule landed at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The pattern was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image: NASA/Keegan BarberCuration groups course of the pattern return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in a cleanroom, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The pattern was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image: NASA/Keegan BarberExpedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is helped out of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft simply minutes after he Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, landed in a distant space close to the city of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in area as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in historical past. Image: NASA/Bill IngallsA SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is launched from Launch Complex 39A, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will journey to a metal-rich asteroid by the similar title orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to check it’s composition. The spacecraft additionally carries the company’s Deep Space Optical Communications expertise demonstration, which can take a look at laser communications past the Moon. Image: NASA/Aubrey GemignaniA pattern from asteroid Bennu is seen ready on a microscope slide, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington. The pattern was collected from the carbon wealthy close to Earth asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image: NASA/Keegan BarberThe pattern return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. The pattern was collected from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020 by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image: NASA/Keegan BarberThe Moon and the star Antares are seen in the sky above a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the firm’s Dragon spacecraft on prime is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as half of the company’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are scheduled to launch at 3:27 a.m. EDT on Saturday, August 26, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Image: NASA/Joel KowskySupport groups work round the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft shortly after it landed with with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, Saturday, March 11, 2023. Mann, Cassada, Wakata, and Kikina are returning after 157 days in area as half of Expedition 68 aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
