Rosetta at Steins
Date: 5 Sep 2008

An artist's impression of the Rosetta spacecraft's encounter with asteroid Steins.


ESA's Rosetta spacecraft flew by asteroid (2867) Steins on 5 September 2008 at 20:58 CEST, ground received time (= spacecraft time CEST + 20 minutes), with a closest approach distance of 800 km.


The asteroid was the first science target. Rosetta's primary mission is to orbit comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.


Image Credit: European Space Agency

Credit: ESA