Science & Tech · Space · 6 hrs ago
Galileo spacecraft made the first asteroid flyby at Gaspra in 1991
On Oct.
29, 1991, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew past asteroid Gaspra, near the inner edge of the asteroid belt.
Galileo was travelling toward Jupiter and had spent about two months crossing the asteroid belt.
It passed within about 990 miles of Gaspra at roughly five miles per second.
The flyby was the first time a spacecraft visited an asteroid; Galileo took pictures and studied the asteroid’s chemical composition and physical properties.
The images showed an elongated, crater-covered asteroid, but the spacecraft was too far away for Gaspra’s gravity to reveal its mass.
The encounter was a stop on Galileo’s six-year journey, and the spacecraft reached Jupiter in 1995 after later flying past asteroid Ida and observing Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9’s fragments hit Jupiter.
Since then, space missions have landed on asteroids, returned asteroid samples to Earth and tested ways to change an asteroid’s path.
Galileo flew past asteroid Gaspra on Oct. 29, 1991, in the first asteroid flyby by a spacecraft.
The spacecraft passed about 990 miles from Gaspra at a relative speed of about 5 miles per second.
Galileo took photographs and used an instrument to study the asteroid’s chemical composition and physical properties.
The images showed an irregular, elongated, crater-covered body about 12 miles long and 7 miles wide.
The encounter took place during Galileo’s journey to Jupiter, which it reached in 1995.
- Who
- NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew past Gaspra.
- What
- It made the first spacecraft flyby of an asteroid, taking photographs and studying Gaspra.
- When
- Oct. 29, 1991.
- Where
- At asteroid Gaspra, near the inner edge of the asteroid belt.
- Why
- Galileo was travelling to Jupiter, and the flyby was a stop along its journey.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
NASA launched Galileo toward Jupiter.
Galileo swung by Venus and Earth.
Galileo flew past Gaspra, the first asteroid visited by a spacecraft.
Galileo flew by the asteroid Ida.
Galileo arrived at Jupiter.
- Flyby date
- Oct. 29, 1991
- Asteroid
- Gaspra
- Closest approach
- About 990 miles (1,593 kilometers)
- Relative speed
- About 5 miles (8 kilometers) per second
- Estimated size
- About 12 miles long and 7 miles wide
- Destination
- Jupiter
What people are saying
The picture we get of Gaspra is one of something that has suffered a lot during its history
We suspect that this is the survivor of a series of catastrophic collisions in the past.