SPACE — On February 12, 2001, NASA landed a spacecraft on an asteroid! After five years of flight, the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft landed on the near-Earth asteroid, 433 Eros.
This is the first successful landing of terrestrial technology on an asteroid. It was also supposed to be the landing that directly ended NEAR-Shoemaker’s life.
It was designed only to test landings on outer drifting space rocks. Mission controllers initially thought the satellite had been blown to pieces after hitting the surface of Eros.
However, NASA was surprised to find out that NEAR-Shoemaker was still intact and fine. Instead of ending the mission as planned, NASA spent several weeks studying Eros up close.
Also read: What does it feel like to walk on an asteroid? Scientists Explain
Throughout its mission, it studied things like asteroid composition and magnetic fields. The probe also took the first close-up images of an asteroid ever taken by a spacecraft in orbit. Source: Space.com
2024-02-12 15:31:00
#History #Today #NEARShoemaker #Lands #Asteroid #Eros #Space #Space
