May 9 2003
From The Space Library
The Japanese probe Muses-C~renamed Hayabusa (Falcon) after its deployment~launched from Kogoshima Space Center on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, aboard an M-5 solid-fuel rocket. The probe's mission was to rendezvous with the asteroid 1998 SF36, gather surface samples, and return to Earth. Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science expected the 510-kilogram (1,124-pound) spacecraft to arrive at the asteroid in June 2005. The craft would then skim the surface several times over three months, collecting 1 gram (0.04 ounces) of surface material from various sites. The Institute had designed the mission to return the samples to Earth in a capsule in June 2007. If the probe succeeded, the samples would be the first space rocks collected since the end of the U.S. Apollo Lunar Exploration Program 30 years before. (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 595; Eric Talmadge for Associated Press, “Japan Launches Rocket To Probe Asteroid,” 9 May 2003.
NASA announced the selection of William W. Parsons Jr., Director of NASA's SSC, to succeed Ronald D. Dittemore as Manager of the Space Shuttle Program. Dittemore had announced his resignation on 23 April. NASA appointed SSC Deputy Director Michael U. Rudolphi to serve as interim Director of SSC. (NASA, “NASA Selects New Space Shuttle Program Manager,” news release 03-164, 9 May 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/HP_news_03164.html (accessed 2 December 2008); Michelle Krupa, “No 2 Man Takes Helm at Stennis Center: Ex-director Moves Up to Shuttle Position,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 13 May 2003.
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