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Pictures of NEAR"s Date with Eros
posted: 04:06 pm ET
12 February 2001
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near_touchdown_pixOn its way down to a successful asteroid landing, NASA's NEAR spacecraft took dozens of close-up images of Asteroid Eros 433. Some of the images show a surface far more hospitable to a spacecraft landing than expected, which may help account for NEAR's relatively easy touchdown. "We're seeing things really well," said Joseph Veverka, NEAR's imaging team leader from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "The pictures are absolutely fantastic. This is a great experience to just sit here and accompany a spacecraft down to the surface." Click on images to enlarge. 
1,150 meters
(3,773 Feet) | | 
700 meters
(2,300 Feet) |
Top left -- The image is 177 feet (54 meters) across. The large rock at lower left is 24 feet (7.4 meters) across. Top right -- The image is 108 feet (33 meters) across. The large, oblong rock casting a big shadow measures 24 feet (7.4 meters) across. 
250 meters
(820 Feet) | | 
120 meters
(394 feet) |
Top left -- The image is 39 feet (12 meters) across. The cluster of rocks at the upper right measures 5 feet (1.4 meters) across. Top right -- This is the last image of Asteroid 433 Eros received from NEAR Shoemaker. The image measures 20 feet (6 meters) across. What we can see of the rock at the top of image measures 12 feet (4 meters) across. The streaky lines at the bottom indicate loss of signal as the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid during transmission of this image. Captions: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory ~ Various images taken during NEAR's decent to Eros ~ Various images taken during NEAR's decent to Eros
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