The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft made the first pitstop on its multi-planet mission during a weekend flyby past Earth.

Rosetta swung within 1,180 miles (1,900 kilometers) of Earth during its closest pass on March 4 and is now bound to fly past Mars in Feb. 2007. The spacecraft will then swing past Earth twice more to build up enough acceleration to reach its ultimate target: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

While Rosetta is expected to reach the comet in 2014, it will also fly past two asteroids, Steins and Lutetia in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Rosetta ground controllers used the March 4 flyby through the Earth-Moon as a test run for those future encounters, with the Moon (shown here half-lit by the Sun) serving as a mock asteroid target.

Rosetta photographed the Moon and Earth with its navigation cameras and also used its ALIVE ultraviolet spectrometer, VIRTIS visible and infrared mapping spectrometer, and MIRO microwave instrument during the flyby.

-- SPACE.com Staff.

Credit: ESA/ESOC.

Return each weekday for a new SPACE.com Image of the Day.