In 1991 the Galileo spacecraft gave planetary scientists their first up close look at an asteroid when it flew by 951 Gaspra. Since then humans have sent spacecraft to 16 different asteroids and minor planets. Despite having visited so many asteroids, they continue to take us by surprise with their diversity and the information each provides about the formation of our solar system.

In this talk Josh discusses the exploration of the asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. He goes over the details of the mission, the spacecraft itself, challenges in operating a spacecraft around a distant asteroid and some of the latest scientific results to be released by the mission in the lead up to the sample collection activity later this year. He also outlines some of the fun space-related adventures he's been on since he was a WAS member.

Joshua Nelson is currently an ISS Flight Controller at Johnson Space Center in Houston and a faculty member of the International Space University. Before moving to Texas earlier this year, he spent three years working as an Operations Engineer for the OSIRIS-REx mission. Josh has had a wide ranging career in the space industry working as a telescope operator, Mars drill mechanic, space habitat engineer and as a real life Mark Whatney growing plants in a Martian greenhouse simulator. All of this began when his family joined WAS back in 1993!

This talk was presented virtually to the Westport Astronomical Society on July 21, 2020 as part of the Society's free lecture series.