Spacecraft flies by remote asteroid, camera stops (Update)

Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

An European Space Agency image taken from the ESA's webside on Friday, Sept 5. 2008 shows an artist's impression of ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft flying by asteroid (2867) Steins on Sept. 5, 2008 at 20:58 CEST (1858 GMT), with a closest approach distance of 800 kilometers. Steins is Rosetta’s first nominal scientific target. The spacecraft encountered the asteroid in the course of its first incursion into the main asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, while on its way to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is scheduled for 2014. (AP Photo/ESA, C.Carreau)

Click here to enlarge image

(AP) -- The European deep space probe Rosetta successfully completed a flyby of an asteroid millions of miles from earth, but its high resolution camera stopped shortly before the closest pass, space officials said Saturday.

Content from The Associated Press expires 15 days after original publication date. For more information about The Associated Press, please visit www.ap.org .

» Next Article in Space & Earth science - Space Exploration: NASA delays Hubble mission 2 days due to storms

would you recommend this story?