List of Earth flybys is a list of cases where spacecraft incidentally performed Earth flybys, typically for a gravity assist to another body.
Spacecraft | Organization | Date | Type | Closest Approach | Status | Notes | Image | Ref | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Giotto (first pass) | ESA | 2 July 1990 | flyby | 22,730 km | success | first Earth flyby, en route to Comet Grigg-Skjellerup | [1] | |||
Galileo (first pass) | NASA | 8 December 1990 | flyby | 960 km | success | gravity assist en route to Jupiter; minimum distance 960 km | [2] | |||
Sakigake (first pass) | ISAS | 8 January 1992 | flyby | 88,790 km | success | previously visited Halley's comet | [3] | |||
Suisei | ISAS | 20 August 1992 | flyby | failure | failure | previously visited Halley's comet; hydrazine depleted, further planned comet flybys abandoned | [4] | |||
Galileo (second pass) | NASA | 8 December 1992 | flyby | 303 km | success | gravity assist en route to Jupiter | [5] | |||
Sakigake (second and third passes) | ISAS | 14 June 1993 | flyby | [6] | ||||||
28 October 1994 | flyby | out of fuel; telemetry contact lost November 1995 | ||||||||
NEAR Shoemaker | NASA | 23 January 1998 | flyby | 540 km | success | gravity assist en route to Eros | [7] | |||
Nozomi (first pass) | ISAS | 20 December 1998 | flyby | 1000 km | partial success | gravity assist on planned mission to Mars; valve malfunction during flyby required extra burn, which later forced alternate trajectory plan | [8] | |||
Giotto (second pass) | ESA | 1 July 1999 | flyby | failure | n/a | already defunct | ||||
Cassini | NASA ESA ASI | 18 August 1999 | flyby | 1171 km | success | gravity assist en route to Saturn | [9] | |||
Stardust (first pass) | NASA | 15 January 2001 | flyby | 6000 km | success | gravity assist en route to comet 81P/Wild | [10] | |||
Nozomi (second pass) | ISAS | December, 2002 | flyby | 11,000 km | success | gravity assist en route to Mars | ||||
Nozomi (third pass) | ISAS | 19 June 2003 | flyby | 1000 km | success | gravity assist en route to Mars | ||||
Hayabusa | ISAS | 19 May 2004 | flyby | 20,000 km | success | en route to Itokawa | [11] | |||
Rosetta (first pass) | ESA | 4 March 2005 | flyby | 1950 km | success | gravity assist en route to asteroid and comet encounters | [12] | |||
MESSENGER | NASA | 2 August 2005 | flyby | 2348 km | success | en route to Venus and Mercury | [13] | |||
Stardust (second pass) | NASA | 15 January 2006 | flyby | success | drop-off of sample return capsule | |||||
Rosetta (second pass) | ESA | 13 November 2007 | flyby | success | gravity assist en route to asteroid and comet encounters | |||||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI) (first pass) | NASA | 31 December 2007[14] | flyby | 15,567 | success | previously visited Comet 9P/Tempel; gravity assist en route to encounter with Comet 103P/Hartley | [15] | |||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI) (second pass) | NASA | December 2008[16] | flyby | 43,450 km | success | gravity assist | ||||
Stardust (third pass) | NASA | 14 January 2009 | flyby | 9200 km | success[17] | mission extension to Comet 9P/Tempel; minimum distance 9200 km | ||||
Rosetta (third pass) | ESA | 13 November 2009 | flyby | success | gravity assist en route to asteroid and comet encounters | |||||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI) (third pass) | NASA | June 2009 | distant flyby | success | ||||||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI) (fourth pass) | NASA | December 2009 | distant flyby | success | ||||||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI) (fifth pass) | NASA | June 2010 | flyby | 36,900 km | success | |||||
Juno | NASA | 9 October 2013 | flyby | 559 km | success | gravity assist en route to Jupiter | ||||
Hayabusa2 | JAXA | 3 December 2015 | flyby | success | gravity assist en route to Asteroid 162173 Ryugu | |||||
PROCYON | University of Tokyo JAXA | 3 December 2015[18] | flyby | success | was en route to Asteroid 2000 DP107 but mission abandoned[19] | |||||
Shin'en 2 | Kyutech | 4 December 2015[20] | flyby | success | ||||||
OSIRIS-REx | NASA | 22 September 2017[21] | flyby | 17,237 km | success | Gravity assist en route to Asteroid 101955 Bennu | ||||
BepiColombo | ESA JAXA | 10 April 2020 | flyby | 12,700 km | success | Gravity assist en route to Venus and Mercury | ||||
Solar Orbiter | ESA | 26 November 2021 | flyby | 455 km | success | Gravity assist en route to inclined heliocentric orbit | ||||
Lucy | NASA | 16 October 2022 | flyby | 360 km | success | main-belt asteroid flyby en route to Jupiter Trojans | ||||
OSIRIS-APEX | NASA | 24 September 2023 | flyby | 779 km | success | Gravity assist en route to Asteroid 99942 Apophis (OSIRIS-REx mission extension) |