Asteroid landing LIVE stream: Watch Japanese Hayabusa-2 touch down on Asteroid Ryugu NOW

At 10.05pm GMT, Habauysa’s altitude was recorded at 656.2ft (200m) above Ryugu.

Before the mission was given the green light to go earlier today, Hayabusa-2 hovered over the space rock at a distance of about 12.5 miles (20km).

The spacecraft then spent the next few hours, gradually approaching and accelerating towards Ryugu.

Unfortunately, once the probe lands on Ryugu, Hayabusa’s position will make it impossible to beam images back to JAXA on Earth.

READ MORE: Japanese space probe pictures: See new STUNNING images of Asteroid Ryugu