Even the scientists who built the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft were stunned last week when it gently landed on the asteroid Eros. But the craft's simple signal kept humming. Like all other asteroids, Eros orbits the sun. Five years ago, NEAR was launched to study Eros. For a year it orbited Eros and sent back data and images.
Scientists hope to learn more about asteroids in case one ever comes near Earth.
Many believe an asteroid hit 65 million years ago, causing the dinosaur extinction. NASA had planned to end the mission on Valentine's Day 2001. But after last week's soft landing, they decided to collect data for 10 more days.