Hayabusa

Launch Successful

Launch Details

Date: 9 May 2003, 04:29 am UTC

Rocket: M-V (Mu)

Provider: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science

Mission

Type: Astrophysics

Orbit: Asteroid

Pad: Mu Center, Uchinoura Space Center, Japan

Mission Description

MUSES-C (renamed Hayabusa after launch) is a sample return mission to the asteroid. Its primary goal is to acquire and verify technology which is necessary to retrieve samples from a small body in the solar system and to bring back them to the earth.