Live coverage: Mission control loses contact with Indian moon lander

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft briefly landed on an asteroid Thursday more than 200 million miles from Earth and fired a bullet to scoop up a rocky sample, successfully accomplishing one of the mission’s most challenging maneuvers before returning the asteroid specimen to scientists on the ground in December 2020.

Dynetics, an Alabama-based company with broad experience as a supplier of aerospace components and systems, is seeking a major role in NASA’s Artemis moon program with a proposal for a human-rated lunar lander developed in partnership with Sierra Nevada Corp. and other companies.

Two British-built reconnaissance satellites, one designed to test new radar imaging technology and another to collect high-resolution optical imagery, arrived in orbit Sunday after a successful liftoff aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.