After a crippled seven-year journey Japan's Hayabusa probe limped home in 2010 and burned up in the sky over Australia, but not before releasing the first asteroid samples ever returned to Earth. - Space Daily

Japan’s Hayabusa probe returned to Earth on 13 June 2010, breaking apart in a bright streak over the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. About three hours before that final reentry, it had released a 40-centimetre capsule, which parachuted down into the ou…