Hayabusa's glory exhibited to lift spirit of quake-hit city

OFUNATO, JAPAN: Aiming to lift the spirits of people of Ofunato, one of the worst-affected cities in March 2011 earthquake, Japan today organised an exhibition of items brought back to Earth by its unmanned spacecraft ' Hayabusa' in 2010.

Items exhibited included a capsule along with the "heat shield" that protected it, a parachute and other things that was brought by the spacecraft after a seven-year journey covering 6 billion kilometers.

officials of the city, situated in Iwate Prefecture, said they hope the initiative will help give residents the strength to carry on through their struggles.

Launched in May 2003, the space probe had overcome a series of problems such as a communication outage and engine trouble during its mission.

Hayabusa landed on the asteroid Itokawa in 2005 and returned to Earth in June 2010, releasing the heat-resistant capsule to land in a desert in southern Australia.

The spacecraft has been active in promoting space science given its history in hosting the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's observation hot air balloon center until 2007.