NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

NEAR

Launch Time
Sat Feb 17, 1996 20:43 UTC

Rocket

Delta II 7925-8
Image Credit: ULA
Boeing
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 3,511 kN
Payload to GTO: 1,780 kg
Stages: 3
Strap-ons: 9
Rocket Height: 38.1 m
Fairing Diameter: 2.4 m
Fairing Height: 8.49 m

Mission Details

NEAR

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous – Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), was a robotic space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. The mission succeeded in closing in with the asteroid and orbited it several times, finally terminating by touching down on the asteroid on 12 February 2001.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 487.0 kg
Heliocentric Orbit

Location

SLC-17B, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA

Stats

1996

9th orbital launch attempt

Delta II

46th mission
2nd mission of 1996
45th successful mission
4th consecutive successful mission