Hayabusa2 leaves Ryugu, heads for Earth

This time, the Japanese mission to an asteroid got some real samples (and not just a few precious particles).

And now the final act is to come home and drop those samples back to Earth.  And it just started the long journey back.

Farewell, Ryugu! Japan's Hayabusa2 Probe Leaves Asteroid for Journey Home

"Mission controllers and with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) told the Hayabusa2 spacecraft to turn toward home at 10:05 a.m. local time Nov. 13 (8:05 p.m. EST Nov. 12; 0105 GMT Nov. 13). That command marks the beginning of the last stage of the mission, which launched in December 2014 to explore and sample an asteroid dubbed Ryugu and also included deploying several smaller robots onto the rocky body."

The return journey will take about a year, so next November, look for Hayabusa2 in the skies near you.