Japan spacecraft touches down on asteriod

A Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 has touched down on an asteroid in an attempt to collect a sample of rock from the surface.

The Hayabusa-2 probe tried to grab the sample from a pre-chosen site on the asteroid Ryugu on Thursday.

The spacecraft reached asteroid Ryugu in June 2018 after a three-and-a-half-year journey from earth.

It is expected to return to earth with the rocky material it has cached in 2020.