Hayabusa’s Hot Today
Beautiful video footage, courtesy of NASA, of Hayabusa’s re-entry after a 7-year mission and 6 billion kilometers.
Officially…
日本時間6月13日19時51分に「はやぶさ」は無事カプセルを分離し、日本時間6月13日22時51分頃には大気圏に突入しました。
2003年5月9日にM-Vロケットで打ち上げられてから約7年間、イトカワに着陸し、サンプル採取作業を行い、再び地球に帰還するという難事業を、幾多の困難を乗り越え成し遂げることができました。
これまで応援していただいた皆様に感謝いたします。引き続き、豪州において地球に帰還したカプセルの回収作業を進めてまいります
In other words, via JAXA…
Hayabusa separated the capsule at 7:51 p.m. and reentered the atmosphere at 10:51 p.m. on June 13th, 2010 (JST).
Hayabusa was launched on May 9th, 2003 by M-V rocket and operated for approximately seven years. During its operation, JAXA was able to achieve the difficult mission including Hayabusa’s sample capture attempt after its touchdown on the asteroid named Itokawa, and Hayabusa’s return to the earth overcoming many hardships. JAXA would like to appreciate every support to JAXA leading this mission to a great success.The Hayabusa capsule has just returned to Woomera, Australia. As the next step, JAXA will move forward to the capsule recovery.
So what did it look like on the ground? Somebody from Wakayama University Institute for Education on Space was pretty excited to capture it on video, on the ground in Australia…
