NEAR Shoemaker Spaceflight

time

1

dimension

2D

3D

show Jupiter

background

black

white

gray

any date

start of data

asteroid Mathilde flyby

Earth gravity assist

asteroid Eros flyby

asteroid Eros arrival

asteroid Eros impact

date: 1996-Jun-01

speed: 26.76

-1

km·s

This Demonstration shows an animation of the flight of the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft's mission to the asteroid (433) Eros. This spacecraft used a technique called gravitational assist with the Earth on January 23, 1998. It also made the flyby past the asteroid (253) Mathilde on June 27, 1997. The mission ended on February 12, 2001 with a direct impact on the asteroid Eros.

NEAR stands for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.

The orbits of planets have the following colors: Mercury: orange, Venus: brown, Earth: blue, Mars: red, Jupiter: brown. The orbit of the asteroid Eros is pink; the orbit of the asteroid Mathilde is cyan.