Hayabusa Returns

After making physical contact with an asteroid five years ago, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's project Hayabusa is making its return to Earth on June 13. The craft was originally launched on May 9, 2003, destined for the asteroid Itokawa. On November 25, 2005, the spacecraft touched down for a time on the asteroid—only the second spacecraft to do so, next to NASA's NEAR-Shoemaker which traveled to Eros in 2001, but Hayabusa was the first to sample the asteroid surface material.

Hayabusa has traveled 1.25 billion miles over the last seven years, but the journey has finally come to an end. Hayabusa will be entering Earth's atmoshpere at the second-highest re-entry velocity in history, according to one NASA scientist. NASA is helping JAXA to guide the spacecraft's return.