NASA DC-8 in Melbourne

[Oliver Gigacz]

Early this morning a NASA DC-8 arrived in Melbourne.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviationphotos/4689718677/

Don't know how long it will be in Melbourne, But got this from slashdot.org

"NASA said that a group of its astronomers will have a front row seat in Australia to watch the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa's high-speed, fiery return to Earth. It is bringing with it a hunk of the asteroid Itokawa. The spacecraft is expected to land in an unpopulated area of Australia at approximately midnight locally, or 7 am PDT, on Sunday, June 13. Some 30 NASA astronomers will be flying onboard a specially equipped DC-8 with instruments that can monitor Hayabusa's reentry."

[Grahame Hutchison]

DC-8-72 (46082) manufactured in 1968 and re-engined with CFM56 SERIES powerplants.

[Richard B]

This AC will be used to track the re-entry of the Hayabusa sat tonight in South Australia....

[Philip Argy]

Not sure about the slashdot story re Hayabusa bringing with it a hunk of the Itokawa asteroid!

As I understand it there's only a bare hope that a few specks of dust has been collected by accident (because the planned sampling task failed). We'll know more in a week or so after the collector horn has been unsealed and analysed in Japan.

Right now the task is to get the collector back to Japan. Not sure if the NASA DC-8 is going to do the honours - does anyone know what aircraft will be carrying the collector back to Japan?