Q&A with Earl Maize, Cassini project manager (members only)

Pioneering spacecraft from NASA and the Japanese space agency promise to reveal two unexplored asteroids later this year, officials said Wednesday, beginning surveys that will culminate in daring descents to capture samples for return to Earth, where eager scientists await a hands-on look at the specimens.

On the eve of the Cassini spacecraft’s deepest pass through the polar plumes of Enceladus, Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark spoke with Jonathan Lunine, a member of the mission’s science team from Cornell University, about what he hopes to learn from the encounter.

Ground teams at the Kennedy Space Center were packing last-minute cargo into a commercial Dragon supply ship Sunday, a day before the automated freighter is set for liftoff on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a two-day trek to the International Space Station.