Hayabusa

Top Men at Wohba have been following the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Hayabusa spacecraft as it hovers near asteroid Itokawa. We've been waiting for the cool stuff - the cool stuff is about to happen. After an aborted practice session brought the craft to within 70 meters of the asteroid, all systems are go for another rehearsal and a touch-down.

Nov. 12 - Hayabusa approaches Itokawa and drops the Minerva* probe to the surface.
Nov. 19 - Hayabusa approaches, lands briefly to collect one gram of... uh... asteroid.
Nov. 25 - Another approach and brief landing to collect sample again (if necessary).
Early Dec. - Hayabusa begins journey back to Earth
June 2007 - Samples of asteroid drop to Earth in re-entry capsule.

UPDATE: Looks like Minerva* is AWOL. Hayabusa ejected it, expecting it to find the asteroid, but it had other plans - headed out to the undiscovered country. No hopping around with color cameras on the surface, but the landing and scooping mission will continue.

*The Minerva probe is a tiny (barely over one pound) mini-lander that will hop around the surface of the asteroid and send photos back to Hayabusa.