OSIRIS-REx is a New Frontiers mission, an opportunity NASA provides to universities and institutes to compete for a contract to explore the solar system, led by an individual principal investigator.

OSIRIS-REx is a NASA-funded, UA-led mission that has sent a spacecraft to the asteroid Bennu. It will arrive Dec. 3, 2018. It is expected to return to Earth in 2023.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Nearly 1,000 employees have accepted resignation offers, according to NASA late Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. space agency.