From The Archives: Searching For Clues To The Planets

Featured on the cover of the February 12, 1996, issue, the Applied Physics Laboratory’s NEAR spacecraft was designed to orbit a near-Earth asteroid in 1999; it launched 30 years ago this week.

The mission was the first under NASA's low-cost Discovery program of planetary science. 

Read the cover story Encounter With Eros on page 46. 

See the cover and read the full issue dated February 12, 1996. 

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