Japanese Spacecraft Bringing Back Space Rock 116
phaic tan writes "Bridie Smith from the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the Hayabusa spacecraft returning to earth in June with samples from the Itokawa Asteroid: 'A Japanese spacecraft will land in Australia in June, bringing with it samples from an asteroid found 300 million kilometres from Earth. The unmanned Hayabusa spacecraft, launched in May 2003, will become the first spacecraft to bring asteroid material to Earth when it lands in Woomera, South Australia, later this year.'"
Re:Might have Asteroid Samples on It (Score:3, Informative)
You are correct. No one knows if there is anything to be returned. I myself would bet for at least a few micrograms, which would be enough to do some real science.
Re:Smart enough not to land it on their own soil. (Score:4, Informative)
and ducking re-entering spacecraft [nytimes.com]