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1. Republic of Korea's First Astronaut Return to Earth

2. Vinasat-1, Communications Satellite Successfully Launched, Vietnam

3. The Second GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium

4. The 1st Joint Project Team Meeting for Sentinel Asia STEP-2 (JPTM for SA2)

5. The latest information on APRSAF-15

6. [[Series 3: Introduction of the Current Status of Small Japanese Satellites]]
Introduction of STAR

7. [[Event Information - May - June 2008]]

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1. Republic of Korea's First Astronaut Return to Earth
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Republic of Korea's first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, has landed safely in Kazakhstan after spending 12 days in space. This successful entry into orbit made Republic of Korea the 36th country to send a person into orbit.

Korea net:
http://www.korea.net/News/News/newsView.asp?serial_no=20080419005&part=107&SearchDay=&page=1

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2. Vinasat-1, Communications Satellite Successfully Launched, Vietnam

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Vietnam's first communications satellite, VINSAT-1, was successfully launched at 22:17 GMT on April 18, 2008, aboard an Ariane 5 carrier rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Full text of the article: http://www.aprsaf.org/feature/feature_54.html
Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) Website:
http://www.vnpt.com.vn/detail.asp?ID=866&dataID=12749
Arian Space Website: http://www.arianespace.com/site/news/news_sub_missionupdate_index.html

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3. The Second GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium
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From April 14 to 16, 2008, the Second GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium was organized by the secretariat of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) with the support of the Japanese government, to discuss the role of Earth observations in tackling climate change and its induced effects. A total of 279 participants from 27 countries attended the symposium. The report of the Second GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium will be submitted to the upcoming G-8 meeting in Toyako, Japan in July, as an input to their discussions on how to advance global action on climate change.

Full text of the article: http://www.aprsaf.org/feature/feature_53.html
2nd GEOSS AP Website: http://www.prime-intl.co.jp/geoss/
GEO Website: http://www.earthobservations.org/

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4. The 1st Joint Project Team Meeting for Sentinel Asia STEP-2 (JPTM for SA2)
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The 1st JPTM for SA2 will be held from June 5 to 6 in Kobe Japan, organized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in cooperation with the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) as the local host organization.

Sentinel Asia Website: http://dmss.tksc.jaxa.jp/sentinel/news/Announce_SA2JPTM1.html
APRSAF Website: http://www.aprsaf.org/text/wg_jptm_sa2.html

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5. The latest information on APRSAF-15
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The fifteenth session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-15) will be held from December 10 - 12, 2008 in Hanoi and Ha long Bay, Vietnam. The APRSAF-15 jointly will be organized and co-sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam (MOST), Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) and JAXA. Also, the APRSAF water boost rocket competition will be held after the APRSAF-15 by the APRSAF Space Education & Awareness WG.
The First Announcement of the APRSAF-15 will be sent in due course and also be posted on the APRSAF Website.

For more information: http://www.aprsaf.org/text/ap15_info.html

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6. [[Series 3: Introduction of the Current Status of Small Japanese Satellites]]
Introduction of STAR
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In May 2007, Kagawa University's small satellite (STARS), was selected as one of the candidates of small satellites to be launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) H-IIA rocket together with the main satellite GOSAT, which is scheduled to be launched in 2008.

Full text of the article: http://www.aprsaf.org/feature/feature_55.html

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7. [[Event Information -May - June 2008]]
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*May 20 - 23
Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD)
Osaka, Japan
http://www.ar.sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp/pakdd2008/

*May 21 - 25
IOC/WESTPAC 7th International Scientific Symposium - Natural Hazards and
Changing Marine Environment in the Western Pacific
Sabah, Malyasia
http://www.ums.edu.my/conferences/index.php?mod=Publication&action=homeaccess&conf=IOCWESTPAC7

*May 28 - 30
2008 International Congress on Image and Signal Processing (CISP 2008)
Hainan,China
http://www.hainu.edu.cn/CISP2008

*June 1 - 8
26th International Symposium on Space Technology and Science
Hamamatsu, Japan
http://www.ists.or.jp/index.html

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Copyright 2008 The APRSAF Secretariat

[APRSAF Newsletters are distributed to update the readers on the recentdevelopments in the space related activities in the Asia-Pacific region.
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APRSAF Secretariat
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