Dante Loretta

So when we open up the sample return capsule, we'll release the 100 tweets about what people predicted.

I think this was in 2013 when we ran that campaign.

And then we also did art, poetry, music, whatever you wanted to, digital media.

We included it on the chip, and we put it onto the spacecraft.

And so there's a copy on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which will stay in space forever.

And then there's a copy in the sample return capsule, which will come back to the Earth.

So this was one of the things we did to really engage with the public, to make them feel like this was their mission, that they were part of it.

And by far, these are the most popular images that we put out there.

Whenever we mention the messages to Ben and Chip, we get thousands of likes on Facebook and retweets.

And everybody just loves to feel like, my name is on the spacecraft, and I'm part of the mission.

where my cat's name is on the spacecraft and she's part of the mission.

And so people just really, really resonated with that.

So here's the spacecraft in September last year at Kennedy Spink Center right before launch.

So remember I got that phone call from Mike in 2004.

This is 2016, so a nice long journey to get us to the launch pad.

And I never get tired of watching this video.

That's our Atlas V rocket.

So that's September 7th when we rolled out to the launch pad.

The spacecraft is in the nose cone right there.

I lived in Florida for three months as we did the final assembly of the rocket and processing the spacecraft.