NEAR Voyage: Earth to Eros!

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FROM EARTH TO EROS

Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous: A Pictorial Voyage follows NEAR from its inception through the cruise phase to asteroid 433 Eros. Visit the NEAR home page at near.jhuapl.edu for the latest mission information.

Your destination: A lonely, remote remnant of the building blocks from which Earth was created 4.6 billion years ago: an asteroid named 433 Eros.

Your vehicle: The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft; launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 17, 1996.

And your eyes during
the flight: NEAR's electronic camera, called the multispectral imager, or "MSI" for short.

Contents:

Why Voyage to an Asteroid?
Building NEAR
The NEAR Launch
Cruising in Space
Waltzing with Mathilde: 1, 2
Earth Swing By
Eros First Light

Your destination:	A lonely, remote remnant of the building blocks from which Earth was created 4.6 billion years ago: an asteroid named 433 Eros.

Your vehicle:	The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft; launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 17, 1996.

And your eyes during the flight:	NEAR's electronic camera, called the multispectral imager, or "MSI" for short.

Contents:	Why Voyage to an Asteroid? Building NEAR The NEAR Launch Cruising in Space Waltzing with Mathilde: 1, 2 Earth Swing By Eros First Light