Meanwhile, at asteroid Itokawa...

"In this photo released by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), part of asteroid Itokawa is seen with the shadow of probe Hayabusa on top right on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005. Japan's space agency suffered another glitch in its mission to collect surface samples from asteroid Itokawa and return to Earth when a can-sized robot lander apparently became lost in space while attempting a practice landing.

"The rehearsal landing followed an earlier attempt that was aborted due to mechanical trouble, but the space agency said it will go ahead with actual landings on the potato-shaped asteroid Itokawa on Nov. 19 and Nov. 25. Another procedure Saturday to collect surface data with laser altimeter was largely successful, the agency said.

"JAXA hopes Hayabusa, launched in May 2003, will be the world's first two-way trip to an asteroid. A NASA probe collected data for two weeks from the Manhattan-sized asteroid Eros in 2001, but did not return with samples.

"Hayabusa has until early December before it must leave orbit and begin its 290 million kilometer (180 million mile) journey back to Earth. It is expected to return to Earth and land in the Australian Outback in June 2007."