How Japan's Hayabusa Asteroid Mission Worked

By Space.com Staff
published

Japan's Hayabusa asteroid probe launched in 2003 on anambitious mission to sample a nearby asteroid and return those samples to Eartha few years later, but some things went wrong along the way ? adding a fullthree extra years onto the hard-luck probe's mission. This graphic shows thelong and winding road of Japan's Hayabusa mission to visit and sample theasteroid Itokawa.

 

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.