NEAR Shoemaker lands on Eros
Date in UTC
NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros at 19:44 UT and continued returning data. First spacecraft landing on an asteroid. The spacecraft had not been designed as a lander.
Historical significance
First spacecraft landing on an asteroid.
- Category
- Mission Operations and Milestones
- Type
- Landing
- Mission
- NEAR Shoemaker
- Programme
- Discovery
- Organization
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Location
- Eros
- Destination
- asteroid
- Target body
- Eros
- Country
- US
Context and qualifications
The spacecraft had not been designed as a lander.
Sources and attribution
- NASA — NEAR Shoemaker (opens in a new tab) — Original factual summary; retain attribution to NASA.