First Spacecraft To Land On An Asteroid And Return To Earth

The Japanese Hayabusa ... or Falcon ... spacecraft made a fiery re-entry into earth's atmosphere over Australia Sunday night (local time), but not before it's important scientific payload was jettisoned and landed by parachute in the outback.

Hayabusa Re-Entry NASA Photo

The Hayabusa became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return to Earth. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the scientific capsule was released from the parent spacecraft when it was still about 25-thousand miles from Earth, and landed using a parachute in the Australian outback near Woomera.

Hayabusa landed twice on an 1,800 foot long asteroid about twice as far away from Earth as is the sun. The data and samples it collected may help scientists protect the earth against asteroid impacts ... if it can be retrieved.

Hayabusa almost didn't make it back. The Japanese space agency says it suffered from fuel leaks and a communications breakdown that nearly caused them to lose the spacecraft.

Hayabusa Shadow On Ikotowa Asteroid

JAXA said in a news release that the capsule appeared to be intact when it was retrieved about 1608 (JST) Monday. It also recovered the capsules heat shield, which was designed to protect the contents from plasma temperatures reaching 7200 degrees on re-entry. JAXA hopes the shield will lead to improved designs for future probes.

FMI: http://hayabusa.jaxa.jp/e/index.html