The Hayabusa spacecraft in orbit around the asteroid.

MISSION OVERVIEW

The Hayabusa mission, the first Japanese sample return mission, will return powdered or chipped samples from the surface (regolith) of the small near-Earth asteroid, Itokawa. The spacecraft launched in 2002, and rendezvoused with the near-Earth asteroid in 2005. The spacecraft briefly touch down a few times. Each time, a sample collection of the asteroid was made. In 2010, the samples will return to Earth and be flown to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) lab for 1 year of preliminary investigation in Japan. Following this period the samples will be made widely available, with approximately 10% of the sample mass coming to the Johnson Space Center for curation and wide distribution.

Photo of the asteroid Itokawa taken by the Hayabusa spacecraft