1/32 Asteroid Probe Hayabusa Muses-C

The first of Aoshima's new "Spacecraft Series"! This is the Hayabusa, a Japanese asteroid probe launched to rendezvous with the asteroid "Itokawa", collect data and samples, and then return it all back to Earth. The base is shaped like the asteroid, and the small rover Minerva is included.

Hayabusa's mission was a spectacular success.  In June 2010, the sample capsule safely reentered the Earth's atmosphere and landed in Australia (the rest of the craft burned up).  In November of 2010, the Japan Space Agency (JAXA) announced that the capsule did, in fact, contain particles that were successfully harvested from the surface of the asteriod, Itokawa.  This makes Hayabusa the first craft in human history that landed on an extraterrestrial body, collected a sample, took back off and safely returned to Earth.