List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft
List of minor planets visited by spacecraft
Since the 1990s, a total of 16 minor planets – various asteroids, dwarf planets, and Kuiper belt objects – have been visited by space probes.

List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft

Section Title: List of minor planets visited by spacecraft
Table Section Text: Since the 1990s, a total of 16 minor planets – various asteroids, dwarf planets, and Kuiper belt objects – have been visited by space probes.

Minor planet	Space probe

Name	Image	Dimensions (km) (a)	Discovery year	Name	Closest approach	Remarks

year	in km	in radii (b)

1 Ceres	-	952	1801	Dawn	2015–2018	35	0.07	first "close up" picture of Ceres taken in December 2014; probe entered orbit in March 2015; first dwarf planet visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft

4 Vesta	-	529	1807	Dawn	2011–2012	200approx.	0.76	space probe broke orbit on 5 September 2012 and headed to Ceres; first "big four" asteroid visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time

21 Lutetia	-	120×100×75 (100 km)	1852	Rosetta	2010	3,162	64.9	flyby on 10 July 2010; largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time

243 Ida	-	56×24×21 (28 km)	1884	Galileo	1993	2,390	152	flyby; discovered Dactyl; first asteroid with a moon visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by spacecraft at the time

253 Mathilde	-	66×48×46 (58 km)	1885	NEAR Shoemaker	1997	1,212	49.5	flyby; largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time

433 Eros	-	34×11×11 (23 km)	1898	NEAR Shoemaker	1998–2001	landed	landed	1998 flyby; 2000 orbited (first asteroid studied from orbit); 2001 landing; first asteroid landing, first asteroid orbited by a spacecraft, first near-Earth asteroid (NEA) visited by a spacecraft

951 Gaspra	-	18.2×10.5×8.9 (12.2 km)	1916	Galileo	1991	1,600	262	flyby; first asteroid visited by a spacecraft

4179 Toutatis	2.45	1934	Chang'e 2	2012	3.2	0.70	flyby; closest asteroid flyby, first asteroid visited by a Chinese probe

5535 Annefrank	-	4.0	1942	Stardust	2002	3,079	1230	flyby

2867 Šteins	-	4.6	1969	Rosetta	2008	800	302	flyby; first asteroid visited by the ESA

9969 Braille	-	2.2×0.6 (1.6 km)	1992	Deep Space 1	1999	26	12.7	flyby; followed by flyby of Comet Borrelly; failure, missed it during flyby

25143 Itokawa	0.5×0.3×0.2 (350 meters)	1998	Hayabusa	2005	landed	landed	landed; returned dust samples to Earth in 2010 - first sample return mission from asteroid; smallest asteroid visited by a spacecraft, first asteroid visited by a non-NASA spacecraft

101955 Bennu	-	0.492	1999	OSIRIS-REx	2018-present	1.6	3.25	arrived on 3 December 2018; smallest object to be orbited by spacecraft

134340 Pluto	-	2,376	1930	New Horizons	2015	12,500	10.5	flyby; first trans-Neptunian object visited, most distant object visited by a spacecraft (at the time of the visit)

162173 Ryugu	0.865	1999	Hayabusa2	2018-present	0.055	0.13	expected to stay at asteroid from July 2018 to December 2019. Several touchdowns planned to collect samples.

(486958) 2014 MU69	-	31.7	2014	New Horizons	2019	3,500	350	Flew by "Ultima Thule" on 1 January 2019, currently farthest object to be visited by a spacecraft.

Notes: a A minor planet's dimensions may be described by x, y, and z axes instead of an (average) diameter due to its non-spherical, irregular shape.

Sentence(s)

In 2008, ESA's Rosetta probe flew by 2867 Šteins, making it one of the only minor planets ever visited by a spacecraft.

final_sentence: In 2008, ESA's Rosetta probe flew by 2867 Šteins, making it one of the only minor planets ever visited by a spacecraft.