In the summer of 2002, Mizusawa Megumi (played by Yūko Takeuchi), a graduate student in impact morphology at Hokkaido University, was nearing graduation. After listening to a speech about outer space satellites by Takahiro Dema (played by Toshiyuki Nishida), the head of the Outreach Office at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, she was particularly excited, and her insights and knowledge caught Dema's attention. Shortly thereafter, Mizusawa received an invitation from Dema to intern at the institute. At this time, a Japanese aerospace team led by Kenichi Sakagami (played by Masahiro Takashima) was focused on developing a small probe named MUSES-C. They planned to launch the probe to collect samples from an asteroid located beyond the distance between the Earth and the Sun, a task that seemed simple but involved unimaginable and insurmountable difficulties. After the team and related personnel worked together, the launch of the probe, named Hayabusa, finally arrived... This film is based on real events in Japanese space exploration and was made by 20th Century Fox, Toei, and Shochiku, each producing three different versions of the film. This particular version was produced by 20th Century Fox.
Sci-Fi