After Long Trek, Unsung Japanese Spacecraft Nears Asteroid Target

After Long Trek, Unsung Japanese Spacecraft Nears Asteroid Target: "If all goes well, Hayabusa will be the first spacecraft to bring home raw material from an asteroid, part of the primeval rubble left over from the making of the Solar System.

'It is an utterly remarkable project which has been given almost little coverage in the media,' Patrick Michel, a French astrophysicist who is involved in the mission, told AFP on Monday at a meeting of astronomers here."