Japan's Asteroid Probe Is Finally Returning to Earth With Its Precious Cargo

Beginning tomorrow, the overachieving spacecraft will leave Ryugu and head back to Earth, bringing—hopefully—its asteroid samples along with it.
After a year and a half of exploratory work around the Ryugu asteroid, the time has finally come for JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft to return home.
The Ryugu asteroid.
Image : JAXAAlong for the ride will be the all-important asteroid samples.
In addition, Hayabusa2 took numerous photos of the asteroid and deployed several robotic probes to the surface, among other tasks.