Last night, Timothy Noah posted an article on Slate.com about the Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa, and the amazing science and pictures it has collected of asteroid Itokawa.
Until now, all I've seen in the press is how much trouble the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has had with the probe, most recently with a balky landing procedure. But no one ever mentioned how successful the Hayabusa mission has actually been. Check out the pictures and descriptions of the asteroid on the official web site. Wow!
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2006/0602.shtml
