A picture by artist Pat Rawling of the NEAR spacecraft in front of Eros.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Nearly There...
News story originally written on February 11, 1998
The NEAR spacecraft is approaching its final target! Where has this spacecraft been and where is it going? First of all, NEAR stands for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. So it visits --
asteroids! The spacecraft flew by asteroid
Mathilde in June 1997 and is now on its way to asteroid Eros. Eros is the final mission target!
NEAR will reach Eros in December 1998. It will go into orbit around Eros. On February 6, 2000, the mission will come to a climax! The NEAR spacecraft will land on Eros (hopefully it will land and not crash!). Stay tuned!
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