NEAR Expedition By Shadowblaze67 Oct 4, 1957 Launch of Sputnik I First satellite, Aug 17, 1958 Launch of the Pioneer Aug 17, 1961 Launch of Venera 7 Jun 14, 1967 Launch of Mariner 5 May 14, 1973 Launch of Skylab Aug 20, 1975 Launch of Viking I Sep 5, 1977 Launch of Voyager I Apr 12, 1981 Launch of first Shuttle May 4, 1989 Launch of Magellan Oct 18, 1989 Launch of Galileo Apr 24, 1990 Launch of Hubble Telescope Feb 17, 1996 Launch of NEAR Sattellite Period: Feb 17, 1996 to Feb 12, 2001 Timeline of NEAR expdition Jun 27, 1997 NEAR passed the Mathilde Asteroid Oct 15, 1997 Launch of Cassini Aug 1, 1998 Launch of Genesis Dec 23, 1999 NEAR flew by the Eros Asteroid Feb 12, 2001 NEAR touched down on Eros 19:44:16 UTC Successful Landing Aug 6, 2012 Launch of Curiosity Apr 5, 2013 NEAR initiated a rendezvous with Eros
