Asia Bizz: The Hayabusa space probe of Japan had returned to the Earth with material collected from an asteroid last year and this feat has proved to be a winner. The Guinness Book Of World records Ltd has now recognized the Hayabusa space probe as the first spacecraft to return to the Earth with material from an asteroid.
The announcement of the recognition was made by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)on Monday. JAXA, the space agency, had got the certificate on 2nd June 2011, which was dated 23rd May 2011.
According to the certificate, the unmanned spacecraft had landed on the Earth with its precious cargo of tiny grains of material that was collected from the surface of the asteroid named Itokawa. The JAXA had released the certificate on Monday, which incidentally was also the first anniversary after the space craft had returned to the Earth on June 13th 2010.
Moreover, the Guinness Book of World Records had also recognized the Hayabusa soace probe as the first spacecraft to lift off from an asteroid. In 2003, the Hayabusa was sent off from the Earth. In June 2010, the unmanned spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere after completing a trip of 6 billion kilometers in seven years. The spacecraft had released a pan shaped capsule which had the asteroid material, which had landed in a desert in Australia.
