NEAR Shoemaker Completes Low Pass Over Eros

NEAR Shoemaker is now on the outbound leg of its low-altitude flyover,
having dipped to about three miles (5.3 kilometers) over Eros’ surface at just
before 3 a.m. (EDT).

An engine burn, monitored last night from the NEAR Mission Operations Center
at the Applied Physics Laboratory, put the spacecraft in a highly elliptical
31-by-13 mile (50-by-21 kilometer) orbit which included this morning’s close
approach. The first image is already available on the NEAR Web site; other
images will follow today.

Another maneuver set for 1:40 p.m. (EDT) today will send NEAR Shoemaker
toward a higher, more stable orbit, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) above
the asteroid.

“The whole sequence has gone smoothly so far,” says NEAR mission operations
team member Bob Nelson.

Read more about NEAR Shoemaker’s low-altitude flyover from the
Oct. 23 Press Release.