This probe missed Venus... and returned five years later.

On December 7, 2010, Akatsuki is scheduled to start spinning around Venus. But a failure of its main propulsion makes the maneuver fail. The Japanese craft continues its path around the Sun. He is not posed on the planet, nor lost behind it for a few hours: his scientific appointment has just changed radically.

The team maintained the probe for the following years and prepared a new attempt. On December 7, 2015, Akatsuki finally entered Venusian orbit. This time, the maneuver uses the small thrusters of the attitude control system. Five years separate the two decisive passages, day to day.

The probe can then undertake its observations of the atmosphere, in particular to study its rapid movements. The return does not look like an instantly controlled reverse: it had to cope with a new trajectory and a diminished machine. Scientific data eventually followed the initial failure, after a much longer than expected wait.