Hayabusa update: First step for sample capsule return to Japan

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla

2010/06/14 04:39 CDT

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Here are a few photos from a Flickr gallery from the Australian Science Media Centre documenting the Hayabusa sample capsule's first step in its journey from Australia to Sagamihara, Japan, where it will arrive on Friday.

Australian Science Media Centre

Hayabusa brought back to JAXA's Control Center at Woomera

A few selected snapshots from a Flickr gallery from the Australian Science Media Centre document the retrieval of the Hayabusa sample return capsule. Top: three transport containers await the capsule, heat shield parts, and samples of soil (taken to document the nature of possible contaminants, if such are found). 2nd image: Near sunset, the helicopter that retrieved the capsule appears as a black dot on the right side. 3rd: The helicopter lands. 4th: the team returns with the retrieved hardware. Bottom: a clean room set up inside the Woomera Test Range Instrumentation Building was set up to hold the retrieved materials overnight. Higher-resolution versions are available on Flickr.

Also, while I'm posting Hayabusa stuff, I came across another awesome gallery of reentry pics shot from the ground, and here is another version of the NASA DC-8 video of the reentry. Also, I inquired about the correct credit for that video, and credit should go to "NASA ARC-SST SETI Institute."

Many many thanks to a reader for the tip to those videos!