Hayabusa

Hayabusa set out to become the first spacecraft to bring back a sample from an asteroid, targeting the small near-Earth body 25143 Itokawa. Rather than coasting on chemical thrust, it relied on a cluster of xenon ion engines firing near-continuously for years to spiral out toward its target, a propulsion approach the mission was as much built to prove as the sample return itself. It carried the tiny MINERVA hopping lander, intended to bounce across Itokawa's surface. The mission was beset with troubles after arrival, but a capsule of asteroid grains finally parachuted back to Earth in 2010.