NEAR Shoemaker was a NASA space probe, the first spacecraft built to orbit an asteroid. NEAR stands for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, and the mission was later renamed in honour of the planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker. On its way, it flew past the asteroid Mathilde in 1997. It entered orbit around the asteroid Eros in 2000 and spent a year mapping its surface, composition and gravity, revealing a potato-shaped body covered with craters and boulders. At the end of the mission, controllers decided to attempt a landing even though the craft had not been designed for one, and it touched down gently and kept transmitting data from the surface for some time.
Before and after
- 1996Origins of Super Rugby
- 8 January 1996Death of François Mitterrand
- 30 January 1996Discovery of Comet Hyakutake
- from 13 February 1996 to 21 November 2006Nepalese Civil War
- 17 February 1996Launch of NEAR Shoemaker
- 27 February 1996Launch of Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- 12 April 1996Discovery of 55 Cancri b
- May 1996Founding of Internet Archive
- 19 June 1996Origins of Chess960
More in Universe & space
- 4 October 1957Launch of Sputnik 1
- 22 October 1969Discovery of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
- 14 September 1974Discovery of Leda
- 28 July 1989Discovery of Galatea
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 19 January 2006Launch of New Horizons
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.