Japan's Damaged Asteroid Probe Could Limp Back to Earth in June

Battered, drained of fuel, and travel-weary, Japan's asteroid-sampler is almost home. The Hayabusa, which the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched in 2003, is scheduled to drop its sample canister in the Australian outback in June. But, the project leaders warn, there's still a chance than the beleaguered sojourner won't make it. And even if it does successfully return to Earth, it's possible that the sample capsule may not contain extraterrestrial rock.