Hayabusa was a Japanese spacecraft that brought back a sample of asteroid material to Earth in 2010, after a mission riddled with technical glitches. The spacecraft touched down on a small near ...

The spacecraft’s name Hayabusa (はやぶさ) translates as “Peregrine Falcon.” Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 en route to asteroid 162173, recently renamed from 1999 JU3 to 162173 Ryugu.

Japan's robotic Hayabusa spacecraft rendezvoused with asteroid Itokawa in mid-September 2005 and studied the space rock's shape, spin, topography, color, composition, densi Return to Sender ...