Hello Kitty is back in space orbiting on Hodoyoshi-3 satellite as part of Hello Kitty 40th anniversary, Sanrio took part of the Hodoyoshi-3 satellite by sending up a 4 cm Hello Kitty figure with other cameras and experiments. Already Sanrio has already released a picture on their Japanese website and a series of videos.
A short news story was released here, but I am a bit miffed why this has not gotten more attention, I guess it did not have a young 12 year girl running the mission.
Ongoing is a contest by Sanrio to select and broadcast ten 10 messages from fans aboard the Hodoyoshi-3 satellite. You can find information and the contest entry form here.
Sadly this a one way trip for the Hello Kitty figure, eventually the figure will deorbit and bun up depending on the altitude of the satellite or spend years orbiting the earth.
A better news story by Reuters