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>>ERIN: Can you see my smile?! I
feel like a little kid. I was

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just like grinning so wide I
thought my face would crack.

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[logo musical sting] >>KATRINA:
I’m Katrina Jackson from NASA’s

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Goddard Space Flight Center, and
I’m here today at the Kennedy

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Space Center to watch the launch
of our newest planetary science

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mission, OSIRIS-REx, which will
study near-Earth asteroid Bennu

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and return a sample to Earth.
The spacecraft is launching

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onboard an Atlas V rocket, and I
know I’m excited to see my first

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rocket launch, so I’m curious to
see how folks here are feeling

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about watching this new mission
get off the ground. [drums,

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music] >>KATRINA: Jerushah, is
this your first rocket launch?

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>>JERUSHAH: It is, and I’m very
excited about it. >>ASHLEY: This

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is my first time here and my
first launch. >>BRETT: It is my

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first time, launching a rocket.
Well I’m not launching it, but

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other people are, but I’m
watching it. >>ERIN: No, it’s

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actually my second, my first one
was SpaceX CRS-7. >>JASON: No,

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this is actually the fourth
rocket launch I’ve seen here.

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>>DANIEL: Actually I’ve been to
several. I’ve been to probably

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25 different rocket launches,
from Space Shuttle, to Deltas,

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SpaceX missions, so this is
another one to add to the belt

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for me. >>KATRINA: And what
makes you excited about watching

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a rocket launch? >>ASHLEY: What
doesn’t make you excited about

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watching a rocket launch?! I
hear that you’re going to feel

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the shockwaves and the
soundwaves. >>ERIN: It’s just

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the feeling, right? Like seeing
it, alright, there’s a small

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speck out there. And then being
able to witness it is a very

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visceral event where you feel
the ground shaking and you

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almost can taste it. I don’t
know, it’s the most amazing

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thing I’ve ever seen. >>JASON: I
love rockets. I love space

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exploration, I love what NASA’s
doing, and of course there’s

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nothing more amazing than
watching a rocket take off.

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>>JERUSHAH: I expect it to be a
very emotional experience. You

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know to see a rocket actually go
up into space to go to an

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asteroid, it’s the first time
we’ve done this. So I expect it

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to be emotional and just
awe-inspiring, you know as what

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we can do as human beings when
we actually put our minds to it.

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>>DANIEL: Once you see it, it
will live with you for the rest

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of your life. There’s no other
way to say it. From hearing the

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sound, from feeling the power of
the rockets, and just overall

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you really grasp what NASA is
doing. By sending a rocket into

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space, I mean it literally is
rocket science, they’re doing

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phenomenal things. >>KATRINA:
Where did you get your suit

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here? >>ASHLEY: I got this at
the Visitor Center gift shop.

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It’s awesome. >>KATRINA: Well I
think I should get myself one of

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those, one of these days.
>>ASHLEY: They come in blue too,

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but orange, gotta go with the
orange. >>KATRINA: Why do you

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think this is so monumental for
space exploration? >>BRETT:

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Well, there’s going to be a lot
learned. I think when we can get

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material from an asteroid back
on Earth and study it properly

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here on Earth, that’s going to
be much more effective than

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sending a probe out there that
has limited instruments and

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trying to study it out there.
>>JERUSHAH: The fact that we are

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going to an asteroid for the
first time and actually taking a

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sample and bringing it back
home, you know, so that itself

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is just amazingly exciting, it’s
what are we going to learn from

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this sample? >>YINAN: Asteroid
Bennu is a carbonaceous

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asteroid, and so it could
contain amino acids and organic

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compounds that we haven’t seen
before based on other smaller

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pieces of meteorites. >>DANIEL:
I mean we’re going to learn a

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lot about asteroids, where they
come from, who we are. There are

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a lot of questions that are
going to be answered, and I’m

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sure there’s going to be a lot
of things that we’re still going

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to question after this.
>>KATRINA: How has your

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experience at Kennedy been so
far? >>YINAN: Fantastic. It’s

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like, NASA Social has given us
such access to all the

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scientists, and even the
administrator of NASA Charlie

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Bolden, so it’s amazing.
>>DANIEL: It’s a phenomenal

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experience. I cannot say enough
about NASA Social and what they

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have given us
opportunities-wise. >>ASHLEY:

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I’ve really had a great time at
NASA over the past couple of

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days. I’m an artist, so I’m
definitely going to incorporate

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my experience here in some
future work. >>KATRINA: Good

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luck with watching the launch,
and maybe we’ll check back with

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you afterwards. >>LAUNCH
COVERAGE VOICES: Status check.

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Go Atlas. Go Centaur. Go
OSIRIS-REx. Everyone is go.

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Standing by for launch. Ten
seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven.

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Six. Five. Four. Three. Two.
One. And liftoff of OSIRIS-REx.

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Its seven year mission, to
boldly go to the asteroid Bennu

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and back. >>ASHLEY: The rocket
just like, you could see it

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lifting off and all the smoke,
and then a couple seconds later

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you could hear the sound roll in
toward you and it got louder and

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louder, it was awesome. >>ERIN:
It’s like so bright. The

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brightness just gets me. There’s
just no other white light like

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that. And the, like when the
bass gets to you, when the sound

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rushes up, oh my god, I just
want to cry, it’s just magical.

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I think everyone needs to see
that to put a lot of things in

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perspective. [rocket sounds]
>>LAUNCH VOICES: And the Atlas

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rocket carrying OSIRIS-REx has
gone supersonic. Standing by to

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pass the max-Q  [audience
cheering] >>ASHLEY: Um, I was

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like really sweaty, and excited,
and I’m not even on this

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mission, but I’m just so
invested in it at this point. So

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like watching it go up I was
just like “Ahh” and it makes you

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feel so small. >>ERIN: I feel
like a little kid! I was just

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like grinning so wide I thought
my face would crack. It’s

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amazing! I don’t know what to
say! [audience cheering]

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[background launch voices]
[drums, music] >>KATRINA: Now

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that OSIRIS-REx has safely made
its way to space, I’m sure many

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of the team members are going to
take a well-deserved rest

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tonight and settle in for the
spacecraft’s two-year cruise to

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asteroid Bennu. Meanwhile, you
can follow the mission’s

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online at nasa.gov/osiris-rex
and on Twitter @OSIRISREx and

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with the hashtag
#ToBennuAndBack. OSIRIS-REx will

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swing by Earth for a gravity
assist next September, will

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reach Bennu in August 2018, will
collect a sample in July of

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2020, and will return to Earth
in September of 2023, so it’s

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going to be a long and exciting
ride, and we are excited to have

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all of you along for the
journey. [satellite whooshes by,

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beeps] [sound fades out]