Which spacecraft became the first to orbit an asteroid when it reached 433 Eros in 2000?

NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid when it reached 433 Eros in 2000.

NASA launched the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission in 1996. After a close flyby of asteroid Mathilde, the spacecraft entered orbit around the near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros on 14 February 2000. It was later renamed NEAR Shoemaker in honour of planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker.

From orbit, the spacecraft mapped Eros’s shape, surface composition, craters and internal structure. Its instruments showed that Eros is an elongated, rocky body with a complex surface and a regolith layer made of loose material.

NEAR Shoemaker later descended to the asteroid’s surface on 12 February 2001. Although it was not originally designed as a lander, it survived the touchdown and transmitted additional data. This was separate from the first spacecraft landing on an asteroid, a distinction associated with the same mission.