"This Week In Space" / Japan's roundtrip asteroid probe returns

     NEWSALERT: Monday, June 14, 2010 @ 1314 GMT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
         The latest news from Spaceflight Now


===========================================
Looking for a job out of this world?
The top jobs and the best talents in
the space industry are on Space Careers.

http://www.space-careers.com/?id=sfn

Space Careers, a one-stop reference source
for employment in the space industry.
===========================================


THIS WEEK IN SPACE
------------------
Japan's robotic roundtrip mission to visit an asteroid beats the odds and
returns home, South Korea's new rocket has a bad day and Mars rover Spirit
produces another discovery.

http://spaceflightnow.com/twis/


JAPANESE CRAFT PLUNGES BACK TO EARTH AFTER ASTEROID VISIT
---------------------------------------------------------
Cutting across the night sky at more than 27,000 mph, a small Japanese
capsule returned to Earth from the surface of an asteroid Sunday and
landed in the remote Australian outback. Touchdown occurred just after
1400 GMT (10 a.m. EDT), and a helicopter spotted the craft less than an
hour later.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/13hayabusaentry/

RE-ENTRY PHOTO GALLERY:
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/13hayabusagallery/

EARLIER PREVIEW STORY:
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/12hayabusa/


SOYUZ SPACECRAFT MOVED TO PAD FOR TUESDAY'S LAUNCH
--------------------------------------------------
A Russian-made Soyuz booster rocket and its crew transport capsule were
transported by rail from the final assembly building to the launch pad
Sunday in preparation for this week's trip to the International Space
Station.

http://spaceflightnow.com/station/exp24/status.html


MAJOR SATELLITE LAUNCH NEXT ON CAPE CANAVERAL SCHEDULE
------------------------------------------------------
Now that last week's Falcon-mania has subsided at Cape Canaveral,
attention turns to preparations for the Florida spaceport's next launch of
the Atlas 5 rocket to place a crucial national security communications
satellite into space.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av019/100610prep.html


AIR FORCE DEEMS TACSAT CRAFT READY FOR OPERATIONS
-------------------------------------------------
U.S. Air Force officials were planning to hand over a small experimental
imaging satellite to Space Command on Saturday, the first time one of the
Pentagon's low-cost responsive missions has been thrust into an
operational role.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/12tacsat/


JAPANESE MISSION UNLEASHES SOLAR SAIL IN DEEP SPACE
---------------------------------------------------
Japan's space agency confirmed Friday its Ikaros mission successfully
unfurled a solar sail nearly 5 million miles from Earth, but it could be
much longer before officials confirm whether the craft is being
accelerated by the power of sunlight.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/11ikaros/


NEW GPS SIGNAL FOR CIVIL USERS BEING PUT TO THE TEST
----------------------------------------------------
The next-generation Global Positioning System satellite launched two weeks
ago has begun testing the new civilian navigation signal debuting
operationally on this spacecraft.

http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d349/100610test.html

+++
GET OUR LIVE UPDATES FROM TWITTER!
Sign up to Spaceflight Now's Twitter feed
and get text message updates on your cell phone.
http://twitter.com/spaceflightnow/
+++

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/
--
Information: http://www.clubbz.com/club/2895/LOWESTOFT---3054/Lowestoft%20And%20Great%20Yarmouth%20Regional%20Astronomers%20(Lyra