ORBITER-FORUM will be temporarily closed at 2026-07-23 18:00 UTC while we complete some OF maintenance tasks. The amount of downtime is expected to take up to one hour, but probably less.
I was watching, and of course, listening to this during the launch.No-one's watching? :hmm:
Hayabusa 2 is now in low Earth orbit! One orbit away from a second burn that puts it away from Earth.
No-one's watching? :hmm:
Hayabusa 2 is now in low Earth orbit! One orbit away from a second burn that puts it away from Earth.

T-1 hour 20 minutes - here's the live broadcast:
Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" Launch Live Broadcast
A Japanese spacecraft is sending back images as it approaches an irregularly shaped asteroid that some on the mission have compared to a dumpling.
The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft was launched in 2014 on a quest to study the asteroid Ryugu and deliver rocks and soil from its surface to Earth.
The craft is now about 215km away from Ryugu and should arrive on 27 June.
Hayabusa's camera is starting to resolve its shape, which has been likened to a Japanese dango dumpling.
JAXA confirmed Hayabusa2, JAXA's asteroid explorer rendezvoused with Ryugu, the target asteroid.
On June 27, 2018, JAXA operated Hayabusa2 chemical propulsion thrusters for the spacecraft's orbit control.*
The confirmation of the Hayabusa2 rendezvous made at 9:35 a.m. (Japan Standard Time, JST) is based on the following data analyses;
・The thruster operation of Hayabusa2 occurred nominally
・The distance between Hayabusa2 and Ryugu is approximately 20 kilometers
・Hayabusa2 is able to maintain a constant distance to asteroid Ryugu
・The status of Hayabusa2 is normal
From this point, we are planning to conduct exploratory activities in the vicinity of the asteroid, including scientific observation of asteroid Ryugu and surveying the asteroid for sample collection.
*Hayabusa2 operation hours: 7:00 a.m. (JST) through 3:00 p.m. (JST), June 27. The thruster operation was pre-programmed in the event sequence earlier on the day and the command was automatically executed.