since its orientation was not appropriate for ascent, it chose instead a safe descent mode. This mode did not permit a sample to be taken, but there is a high probability that some dust may have whirled up into the sampling horn when it touched the asteroid, so the sample canister currently attached to the sampling horn was sealed. On November 25, a second touchdown attempt was performed. It was initially thought that this time, the sampling device was activated; however, later analysis decided that this was probably another failure and that no pellets were fired. Due to a leak in the thruster system, the probe was put in a "safe hold mode". On 27 November, the probe experienced a power outage when trying to reorient the spacecraft, probably due to a fuel leakage. On 30 November, JAXA announced that control and communication with Hayabusa had been restored, but a problem remained with the craft's reaction control system, perhaps involving a frozen pipe. Mission control was working to resolve the problem before the craft's upcoming launch window for return to Earth. On 2 December, an attitude (orientation) correction was attempted, but the thruster did not generate enough force. On 3 December, the probe's Z-axis was found to be 20 to 30 degrees from the Sun direction and increasing. On 4 December, as an emergency measure, xenon propellant from the ion engines was blown to correct the spin, and it was confirmed successful. On 5 December, attitude control was corrected enough to regain communication through the medium gain antenna. Telemetry was obtained and analyzed. As the result of telemetry analysis, it was found that there was a strong possibility that the sampler projectile had not penetrated when it landed on 25 November. Due to the power outage, the telemetry log data was faulty. On December 6, Hayabusa was 550 km from Itokawa. JAXA held a press conference about the situation so far. On 8 December, a sudden orientation change was observed, and communication with Hayabusa was lost. It was thought likely that the turbulence was caused by evaporation of 8 or 10cc of leaked fuel. This forced a wait of a month or two for Hayabusa to stabilize by conversion of precession to pure rotation, after which the rotation axis needed to be directed toward the Sun and Earth within a specific angular range. The probability of achieving this was estimated at 60% by December 2006, 70% by spring 2007. Recovery and return to Earth On 7 March 2006, JAXA announced that communication with Hayabusa had been recovered in the following stages: On 23 January, the beacon signal from the probe was detected. On 26 January, the probe responded to commands from ground control by changing the beacon signal. On 6 February, an ejection of xenon propellant was commanded for attitude control to improve communication. The spin axis change rate was about two degrees per day. On 25 February, telemetry data was obtained through the low-gain antenna. On 4 March, telemetry data was obtained through the medium-gain antenna. On 6 March, Hayabusa'''s position was established at about 13,000 km ahead of Itokawa in its orbit with a relative speed of per second. On 1 June, Hayabusa project manager Junichiro Kawaguchi reported that they confirmed two out of four ion engines were working normally, which would have been sufficient for the return journey. On 30 January 2007, Jaxa reported that 7 out of 11 batteries were working and the return capsule was sealed. On 25 April, JAXA reported that Hayabusa started the return journey. On 29 August, it was announced that Ion