Hayabusa 2 touches down on Asteroid Ryugu

February 22, 2019

Tokyo--Japan's Hayabusa2 unmanned space probe apparently touched down on the asteroid Ryugu Friday morning, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said.

Data from Hayabusa2 showed that it shot a bullet into the surface of the asteroid to collect samples and ascended again as planned after touching down around 7:30 a.m. Japan time (10:30 p.m. Thursday GMT), JAXA said.

The asteroid is located some 340 million kilometers from Earth. Jiji Press