Dante Lauretta is a Regents Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona's Lunar & Planetary Laboratory. He is also the director of the new Arizona Astrobiology Center. He is an expert in near-Earth asteroid formation and evolution. He is the leader of NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return mission. OSIRIS-REx is the United States' premier mission to visit one of the most Potentially Hazardous near-Earth Asteroids, survey it to assess its impact hazard and resource potential, understand its physical and chemical properties, and return a sample of this body to Earth for detailed scientific analysis. The spacecraft launched in September 2016 and began its journey to Bennu, a carbon-rich near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018, obtained a sample in October 2020, then embarked on its return voyage to Earth on May 10, 2021, and successfully released the sample return capsule which landed September 24, 2023.