On June 13, 2010 Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa returned to Earth after collecting more than 1500 regolith dust particles from the surface of asteroid 25143 Itokawa. By doing so, Hayabusa became the first successful sample return mission from an asteroid. In fact, Itokawa is the smallest asteroid ever visited and photographed by a spacecraft.
Itokawa was discovered on 26 September 1998 by astronomers with the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program at Lincoln Laboratory’s Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States. It was given the provisional designation 1998 SF36. The body’s observation arc begins with its first observation by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey just one week prior to its official discovery observation. The minor planet was named in memory of Japanese rocket scientist Hideo Itokawa (1912–1999), who is regarded as the father of Japanese rocketry. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 6 August 2003.
Picture Credit : Google