Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker launched Feb. 17, 1996, the first mission of NASA’s Discovery program, which focused on comparatively inexpensive and frequent explorations. NEAR Shoemaker was intended to orbit Eros and return details about its structure; en route to the asteroid, it imaged 253 Mathilde during a flyby, and became the first solar-powered spacecraft to journey beyond Mars.
A problem during a rocket burn in December 1998 delayed NEAR Shoemaker’s arrival at Eros by over a year, but it successfully began orbiting there on Feb. 14, 2000. It was the first human-made object to orbit an asteroid. For a year, the spacecraft gathered information on Eros’ magnetic field, composition, and topography, sending over 160,000 images back to Earth. The mission ended with a controlled descent to the Eros’ surface on Feb. 12, 2001, making it the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. NEAR Shoemaker touched down at just 4 mph (6.4 km/h) and continued transmitting data for a further two weeks before sending its last signal on Feb. 28.
