The Hayabusa space probe blazed a spectacular trail over Australia before slamming into the desert on Monday, ending a journey to the asteroid Itokawa that began in 2003.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says that even the first image they'd seen of the craft suggested that the precious cargo had survived.

Agency scientists are happy with the soft landing.

[Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency]:
"Parachute deployment is wonderful situation for us. So we are exciting, exciting, and more cheerful face."

Hayabusa, which means falcon in Japanese, landed on the irregularly shaped asteroid in 2005 and scientists think it managed to pick up a small sample of material. If successful, it would be the first time a spacecraft has brought such a sample back to Earth, other than from our own moon.

Scientists hope it could unlock secrets of the solar system's formation and shed light on the risk of asteroid impacts on Earth.

Teams from NASA were deployed to watch the 1000 pound craft return to the Woomera weapons testing range in South Australia.

The asteroid Itokawa is an irregularly shaped object measuring just over 1600 feet long.

Analysis of the capsule's contents will be carried out in Japan and is expected to take at least six months.