Space Fact of the Day #93:
The Japanese probe Hayabusa (はやぶさ, "Peregrine falcon") was the first probe to successfully return samples of an asteroid to Earth. It launched on May 9th, 2003 and spent a bit over two years going toward its target asteroid, 25143 Itokawa, which was about one third of a kilometer (about one fifth of a mile) in diameter. Itokawa was siliceous, which means it was made out of silicon.