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) | ![]() | 2 July 1990 | flyby | 22,730 km | success | first ever Earth flyby, en route to Comet Grigg-Skjellerup | [1] | ||
Galileo (first pass) | ![]() | 8 December 1990 | flyby | 960 km | success | gravity assist en route to Jupiter; minimum distance 960 km | ![]() | [2] | |
Sakigake (first pass) | ![]() | 8 January 1992 | flyby | 88,790 km | success | previously visited Halley's comet | ![]() | [3] | |
Suisei | ![]() | 20 August 1992 | flyby | failure | failure | previously visited Halley's comet; hydrazine depleted, further planned comet flybys abandoned | ![]() | [4] | |
Galileo (second pass) | ![]() | 8 December 1992 | flyby | 303 km | success | gravity assist en route to Jupiter | ![]() | [5] | |
Sakigake (second and third passes) | ![]() | 14 June 1993 | flyby | ![]() | [6] | ||||
28 October 1994 | flyby | out of fuel; telemetry contact lost November 1995 | |||||||
NEAR Shoemaker | ![]() | 23 January 1998 | flyby | 540 km | success | gravity assist en route to Eros | ![]() | [7] | |
Nozomi (first pass) | ![]() | 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) | ![]() | 1 July 1999 | flyby | failure | n/a | already defunct | [1] | ||
Cassini | ![]() ![]() ![]() | 18 August 1999 | flyby | 1171 km | success | gravity assist en route to Saturn | ![]() | [9] | |
Stardust (first pass) | ![]() | 15 January 2001 | flyby | 6000 km | success | gravity assist en route to comet 81P/Wild | ![]() | [10] | |
Nozomi (second pass) | ![]() | December, 2002 | flyby | 11,000 km | success | gravity assist en route to Mars | [8] | ||
Nozomi (third pass) | ![]() | 19 June 2003 | flyby | 1000 km | success | gravity assist en route to Mars | [8] | ||
Hayabusa | ![]() | 19 May 2004 | flyby | 20,000 km | success | en route to Itokawa | ![]() | [11] | |
Rosetta (first pass) | ![]() | 4 March 2005 | flyby | 1950 km | success | gravity assist en route to asteroid and comet encounters | ![]() | [12] | |
MESSENGER | ![]() | 2 August 2005 | flyby | 2348 km | success | en route to Venus and Mercury | ![]() | [13] | |
Stardust (second pass) | ![]() | 15 January 2006 | flyby | success | drop-off of sample return capsule | ![]() | [10] | ||
Rosetta (second pass) | ![]() | 13 November 2007 | flyby | success | gravity assist en route to asteroid and comet encounters | ||||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI ) (first pass) | ![]() | 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) | ![]() | December 2008 [14] [16] | flyby | 43,450 km | success | gravity assist | ![]() | [15] | |
Stardust (third pass) | ![]() | 14 January 2009 | flyby | 9200 km | success [17] | mission extension to Comet 9P/Tempel; minimum distance 9200 km | ![]() | [10] | |
Rosetta (third pass) | ![]() | 13 November 2009 | flyby | success | gravity assist en route to asteroid and comet encounters | ||||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI ) (third pass) | ![]() | June 2009 [14] | distant flyby | success | ![]() | [15] | |||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI ) (fourth pass) | ![]() | December 2009 [14] [16] | distant flyby | success | ![]() | [15] | |||
Deep Impact (redesignated EPOXI ) (fifth pass) | ![]() | June 2010 [14] | flyby | 36,900 km | success | ![]() | [15] | ||
Juno | ![]() | 9 October 2013 | flyby | 559 km | success | gravity assist en route to Jupiter | ![]() | 2011-040A | |
Hayabusa2 | ![]() | 3 December 2015 | flyby | success | gravity assist en route to Asteroid 162173 Ryugu | 2014-076A | |||
PROCYON | ![]() ![]() | 3 December 2015 [18] | flyby | success | was en route to Asteroid 2000 DP107 but mission abandoned [19] | 2014-076D | |||
Shin'en 2 | ![]() | 4 December 2015 [20] | flyby | success | 2014-076B | ||||
OSIRIS-REx | ![]() | 22 September 2017 [21] | flyby | 17,237 km | success | Gravity assist en route to Asteroid 101955 Bennu | ![]() | 2016-055A | |
BepiColombo | ![]() ![]() | 10 April 2020 | flyby | 12,700 km | success | Gravity assist en route to Venus and Mercury | BEPICLMBO | ||
Solar Orbiter | ![]() | 26 November 2021 | flyby | 455 km | success | Gravity assist en route to inclined heliocentric orbit | 2020-010A | ||
Lucy | ![]() | 16 October 2022 | flyby | 360 km | success | main-belt asteroid flyby en route to Jupiter Trojans | ![]() | 2021-093A | |
OSIRIS-APEX | ![]() | 24 September 2023 | flyby | 779 km | success | Gravity assist en route to Asteroid 99942 Apophis (OSIRIS-REx mission extension) | ![]() | 2016-055A |