SPACE LINKS

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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will be the first-ever mission to "touch" the sun. The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will travel directly into the sun's atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star's surface. Launch is slated for summer 2018.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe

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SpaceX finds success in reusing their Falcon 9 rocket to send a satellite into orbit, and bringing it back, once again.  Read more here:  http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/30/15117096/spacex-launch-reusable-rocket-success-falcon-9-landing

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This Fourth of July, our solar-powered NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter will arrive at Jupiter after an almost five-year journey.

Juno will perform a suspenseful orbit insertion maneuver, a 35-minute burn of its main engine, to slow the spacecraft by about 1,212 miles per hour (542 meters per second) so it can be captured into the gas giant’s orbit. Once in Jupiter’s orbit, the spacecraft will circle the Jovian world 37 times during 20 months, skimming to within 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. This is the first time a spacecraft will orbit the poles of Jupiter, providing new answers to ongoing mysteries about the planet’s core, composition and magnetic fields.    -from NASA's FB page

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Dawn spacecraft completes its primary mission. The mission exceeded all expectations originally set for its exploration of protoplanet Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.   http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/dawn-completes-primary-mission/       -from NASA's FB page