Japan's Hayabusa2 Successfully Observes Asteroid Torifune

Tokyo, July 5 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Hayabusa2 unmanned probe successfully flew past the asteroid Torifune at close range on Sunday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

The probe is in normal condition, JAXA said.

According to the plan, Hayabusa2 passed about 800 meters from the center of Torifune at around 6:30 p.m. Japan time to take pictures of its surface and observe it with an infrared camera and a spectrometer. Torifune is located about 100 million kilometers from Earth.

JAXA will hold a press conference on Monday afternoon after confirming the actual distance and whether the observation was successful.

At JAXA's control room in Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, members of the operations team closely monitored the data transmitted from Hayabusa2 with a delay of about five minutes. After confirming the mission's success, they celebrated by clapping and hugging one another.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]