Samples taken from the distant asteroid, named Ryugu, could help shed light on how the solar system came to be.
A Japanese spacecraft has landed on an asteroid more than 186 million miles from Earth on a mission to uncover clues about the origins of life.
The Hayabusa 2 probe, named after a falcon, touched down on Ryugu – an asteroid just 900m (3,000ft) in diameter.
Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency control centre burst into applause and cheers as they received confirmation the spacecraft had touched down.
Patrick Michel, a senior researcher at CRNS (the French National Centre for Scientific Research) said: « I’m crazy about Hayabusa 2 because it’s a very ambitious mission, like the Japanese like to do and it has many firsts.
