Japanese Space Probe Poised to Retrieve Samples From Asteroid

The Columbian › September 15, 2005

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Summary

TOKYO -- Bringing Japan's most complex space mission near its climax, a probe is within 12 miles of an asteroid almost 180 million miles from Earth in an unprecedented rendezvous designed to retrieve rocks from its surface.

The Hayabusa probe, launched in May 2003, will hover around the asteroid for about three months before making its brief landing to recover the samples in early November. The asteroid is located between Earth and Mars.

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Extract

Japanese Space Probe Poised to Retrieve Samples From Asteroid

"The mission is going very smoothly and proceeding as planned," Atsushi Wako, a spokesman for JAXA, Japan's space agency, said Tu...

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