Hayabusa
is the name of a Japanese spacecraft which was sent into space to collect a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa.
The mission was a project of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of the University of Tokyo.
Hayabusa was sent into space on May 9,2003. In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid. The mission was successfully completed in June 2010 when the spacecraft returned to earth in June 2010.
Mission
Hayabusa studied Itokawa' s shape, spin, topography, colour, composition, density, and history. The Hayabusa mission was the first time that an attempt was made to bring an asteroid dust sample to earth for analysis.
In popular culture
Three different feature-length films are being made about the Hayabusa mission.
References
Further reading
Other websites
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Hayabusa (Muses-C) mission profile
Japanese space program
Spacecrafts launched in 2000s
21st century in Japan