The team spent 5 August (Japan time) preparing for the operation, and at 00:50 UTC on 6 August they received permission to proceed. At 02:00 the team confirmed that the spacecraft was descending from its home position altitude of 20 kilometers at a rate of 40 centimeters per second. Communications were passing through the Usuda ground station.

When the spacecraft reached an altitude of 6000 meters at 11:30, the team reduced the spacecraft's descent speed to 8.5 centimeters per second. Then they allowed the craft to free-fall and measured its acceleration, data that will permit the team to determine Ryugu's gravity. While still following the descent, the evening shift handed over control of the spacecraft to the late-night shift; communications had passed from Usuda to Madrid to Goldstone.

As of 14:30, the spacecraft had reached an altitude of 5000 meters. As of 17:15, 4000 meters. As of 21:00, 2300 meters.

Another shift change to the daytime team at 22:00 (07:00 Japan time), and "The gravity measurement descent of Hayabusa2 has now entered the phase of close approach to Ryugu! Tension in the control room has increased."

With nearly a full rotation of Earth complete, communications responsibilities were passed from Goldstone back to Usuda. Our narrator, "IES兄" (the "big brother" of the Ion Engine Systems), recalled some poetry by Shuntaro Tanakawa: "We relay the morning from longitude to longitude, and so take turns, as it were, in protecting the [Earth] spacecraft."

On 6 August at about 23:10 UTC, the spacecraft reached its minimum altitude. Confirmation reached Earth on 6 August at 23:42. Having reached minimum altitude, Hayabusa2 had begun to rise again. The spacecraft initially rises at 20 centimeters per second. The project manager declared the gravity measurement operation successful. JAXA released two images taken with the telescopic camera just before minimum distance, showing a surface covered with meter-scale boulders.