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Uncrewed Spaceflight X-37B

X-37B OTV-1

X-37BIn a launch simply designated USA-212, the U.S. Air Force launches the Boeing-built X-37B unmanned vehicle into Earth orbit. Resembling a scaled-down Space Shuttle, the X-37B is launched via an Atlas V rocket, though during launch it is fully surrounded by an aerodynamic shell rather than being side-mounted to its booster like the manned Shuttle. The X-37B does not return until December, using a landing profile similar to that of the Shuttle (but automated), and the details of the mission remain classified.

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Atlantis Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Space Shuttle

STS-132

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 132nd shuttle flight, a 12-day resupply and maintenance mission to the International Space Station. A “mini research module” built by the Russian space agency is attached to the station, along with cargo and supplies. Upgrades to the station’s solar power arrays are conducted during spacewalks. Aboard Atlantis for her last planned flight (an additional mission will later be scheduled for Atlantis in 2011) are Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen. This is the last shuttle flight for over six months.

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Akatsuki Uncrewed Spaceflight

AKATSUKI launched to Venus

AkatsukiThe Japanese space agency, JAXA, launches unmanned space probe AKATSUKI, known more formally as the Venus Climate Orbiter. The spacecraft is expected to reach Venus in seven months and take up orbit around that planet, where it will study Venus’ atmosphere in depth. “Akatsuki” translates to “Dawn”, but is referred to by its Japanese name to avoid confusion with NASA’s asteroid-belt-exploring Dawn spacecraft.

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Hayabusa Uncrewed Spaceflight

Hayabusa comes home

HayabusaJapan’s Hayabusa unmanned space probe releases a re-entry capsule containing samples of surface material it gathered from asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2005. The capsule survives a punishing 25G re-entry and is recovered from the Australian outback, as planned, while Hayabusa itself burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. The sample payload – approximately 1500 grains averaging 10 micrometers in diameter – reveals that Itokawa has a composition virtually identical to a chondrite meteorite. A significant achievement in the history of the Japanese space program, the Hayabusa mission inspires no fewer than three movies, and a sequel of its own: the Hayabusa-2 space probe, approved in August 2010 and scheduled for launch in 2014.

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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz TMA-19

Soyuz TMA-19Part of the 24th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-19. Fyodor Yurchikhin, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock take up residence on the ISS for 163 days, becoming part of the Expedition 24/25 crews. All three return to Earth in November 2010 aboard the same vehicle.