NEAR Shoemaker first demonstrated a controlled powered descent and landing on an asteroid.
NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft, later named NEAR Shoemaker, landed on asteroid 433 Eros on February 12, 2001. The landing was not part of the mission’s original plan, but controllers decided to attempt it after completing the primary orbital investigation.
The spacecraft descended using its thrusters and touched down at low speed. It continued transmitting data from the surface, including measurements from its gamma-ray spectrometer. The mission therefore became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
NEAR Shoemaker is different from Hayabusa, which later collected asteroid samples, and from Rosetta’s Philae, which landed on a comet. The earlier NEAR mission had been designed primarily to orbit Eros, making its successful landing an unexpected extension.