Recorded mission
Watch
United States Air Force
Delta 7925-8 | NEAR Shoemaker
Coverage link pending
Recorded mission coverage
A coverage link has not been published yet. Mission status and timing remain available here.
Playing a video connects to YouTube. Coverage may be scheduled, live or recorded. If a player is unavailable, use “Open source”.
Mission brief
The flight at a glance.
NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) was a mission to rendezvous and orbit around an near earth asteroid (433 Eros). On the cruise to Eros, it flew by asteroid 253 Mathilde on 27 Jun 1997 and flew by earth on 23 January 1998. After failing to insert itself into Eros' orbit in January 1999, NEAR finally inserted itself into orbit around the asteroid on the second try on 14 February 2000. Initially in a 323 km × 370 km orbit, it lowered its altitude during observation. After reaching orbit, NEAR was renamed NEAR-Shoemaker.
Open the full mission →Published flight sequence
Know what comes next.
Planned timings relative to the target. These steps do not indicate live progress.
A flight sequence has not been published for this mission.