SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -What was NEAR Shoemaker? NASA’s NEAR was the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid and also was the first to land on one. NEAR’s landing on Eros marked the first time a U.S. spacecraft was the first to land on a celestial body, having been beaten by the Soviets in landing on the Moon, Mars, and Venus.

Detailed explanation-2: -Eros is famous as the first asteroid to be orbited by a spacecraft, and the first asteroid to have a spacecraft land on it. But Eros was important to astronomers as far back as 1898 when it became the first near-Earth asteroid (NEA) to be discovered.

Detailed explanation-3: -NASA’s NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) Shoemaker spacecraft landed on the surface of the 21-mile long asteroid Eros on February 12, 2001. NEAR was the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid, and thrilled scientists, sending back “bonus data” for more than two weeks after the landing.

Detailed explanation-4: -Because of its repeated close encounters with Earth, Eros has been an important object historically for refining the mass of the Earth-moon system and the value of the astronomical unit. Eros is no threat to actually hit the Earth, however.