Hayabusa Space Probe to Return 3 Years Late

Japan’s space agency will delay until 2010 the return of an asteroid probe because a thruster problem put the vehicle into a spin, an agency official said Wednesday.

The Hayabusa probe, which is hovering off of the Itokawa asteroid after landing there to collect dust, originally was to return to Earth in June 2007, but that required starting its engine by Dec. 10.

Officials expect to reestablish contact with the probe and halt the spin, but the agency decided to postpone the return because it was not sure how long those procedures would take, the official said.