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Friday, February 22, 2019, 14:48
Japanese spacecraft touches down on asteroid to get samples
By Associated Press
Friday, February 22, 2019, 14:48 By Associated Press

This image released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows the shadow, center above, of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft after its successful touchdown on the asteroid Ryugu on Feb 22, 2019. (PHOTO / JAXA VIA AP)

TOKYO — A Japanese spacecraft touched down on a distant asteroid Friday on a mission to collect material that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.

Workers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency control center applauded Friday as a signal sent from space indicated the Hayabusa2 spacecraft had touched down.

ALSO READ: Japanese spacecraft drops device to land on asteroid

In this photo provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), staff of the Hayabusa2 Project react as they confirm the Hayabusa2 spacecraft made a maneuver at the control room of the JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Sagamihara, near Tokyo, Feb 22, 2019. (PHOTO / ISAS / JAXA VIA AP)

During the touchdown, Hayabusa2 is programmed to extend a pipe and shoot a pinball-like object into the asteroid to blow up material from beneath the surface. If that succeeds, the craft would then collect samples to eventually be sent back to Earth. Three such touchdowns are planned.

Japanese Education Minister Masahiko Shibayama said the space agency had concluded from its data after the first touchdown that the steps to collect samples were performed successfully.

Using an image of the surface of the asteroid Ryugu, Associate Professor Yuichi Tsuda of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) speaks about the touchdown by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft during a press conference in Sagamihara, near Tokyo, Feb 22, 2019. (PHOTO / KYODO NEWS VIA AP)

JAXA, as the Japanese space agency is known, has likened the touchdown attempts to trying to land on a baseball mound from the spacecraft's operating location of 20 kilometers above the asteroid.

READ MORE: Photos from Japanese space rovers show asteroid is ... rocky

The asteroid, named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale, is about 900 meters in diameter and 280 million kilometers from Earth.

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