Homecoming: NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft heads back for Earth with asteroid sample The spacecraft is due to reach Earth on September 24, 2023, after orbiting the Sun twice. Washington: After nearly five years in space, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, the US space agency said. The spacecraft is due to reach Earth on September 24, 2023, after orbiting the Sun twice. On Monday, May 10, at 4.23 p.m. EDT, the spacecraft fired its main engines full throttle for seven minutes -- its most significant manoeuvre since it arrived at Bennu in 2018.