How Japan's Hayabusa Asteroid Mission Worked

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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
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