2001 Jan 24
Living on the Ends
NEAR Shoemaker goes to the ends of Eros over the next few days, embarking on a series of low passes that will give mission scientists their best look yet at the asteroid's cratered tips.A quick maneuver today at 11:05 a.m. EST sent NEAR Shoemaker from a 22-mile orbit - where it had spent the past six weeks - on course to perform five to six low flyovers over the ends of the shoe-shaped asteroid. The first pass on Jan. 24 will bring NEAR Shoemaker within 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) of the surface. The series is scheduled to wrap up in the early hours of Jan. 28, with a daring run just 1 to 2 miles (between 2 to 3 kilometers) over the surface.
NEAR Shoemaker then heads back out to 22 miles, where it will stay until the mission-ending controlled descent on Feb. 12. The spacecraft is more than 192 million miles (307 million kilometers) from Earth.
