Video of Japanese spacecraft breaking up in Earth’s atmosphere

Posted on June 18, 2010 by David Forbes
Found here. Interesting video.

Two days ago, the Hayabusa, a Japanese unmanned spacecraft, finally returned from its seven-year, 1.25 billion-mile trip. It plunged to the earth in a beautiful blaze, which NASA astronomers captured on video. That clip has since become a viral hit on YouTube.

The Hayabusa launched on May 9th, 2003. Its mission was to reach the Itokawa comet in order to gather samples from the comet and study the astral body’s characteristics, including its topography, trajectory, speed and composition. The spacecraft reached the comet in September 2005.

The video, taken from a NASA DC-8 airborne laboratory, depicts the spacecraft’s re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, where the Hayabusa breaks apart into hundreds of beautiful, glowing pieces. Fortunately, the scientists only needed the sample return canister, which was successfully retrieved yesterday from its landing spot in South Australia.

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  • kevlarbikes

    So, a probe covered in cosmic debris from a passing comet scatters itself across the atmosphere…sounds like the makings of a zombie plague to me!

  • David Forbes

    I think you may be right! Time to break out the chainsaws and shotguns …