List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft

The following tables list all minor planets and comets that have been visited by spacecraft.

List of minor planets visited by spacecraft

Since the 1990s, a total of 13 minor planets – currently all of them are asteroids and dwarf planets – have been visited by space probes. Note that moons (not directly orbiting the Sun), comets and planets are not minor planets and thus are not included in the table below.

In addition to the listed objects, three asteroids have been imaged by spacecraft at distances too large to resolve features (over 100,000 km), and are hence not considered as "visited". Asteroid 132524 APL was imaged by New Horizons in 2006 at a distance of 101,867 km, 2685 Masursky by Cassini in 2000 at a distance of 1,600,000 km, and 307 Nike by Pioneer 10 in 1972 at a distance of 8,800,000 km. The Hubble Space Telescope, a spacecraft in Earth orbit, has imaged several large asteroids, including 2 Pallas and 3 Juno.

Minor planet				Space probe
Name	Image	Dimensions (km) (a)	Discovery year	Name	Closest approach			Remarks
					year	in km	in radii (b)
000001 !1 Ceres		952 !952	1801	Dawn	2015.1 !2015–present	7002200000000000000♠200 approx. (planned)	0.42	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
000004 !4 Vesta		529 !529	1807	Dawn	2011–2012	7002200000000000000♠200 approx.	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
000021 !21 Lutetia		100 !120×100×80	1852	Rosetta	2010	7003316200000000000♠3,162	64.9	flyby on 10 July 2010; largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time
000243 !243 Ida		033.67 !56×24×21	1884	Galileo	1993	7003239000000000000♠2,390	152	flyby; discovered Dactyl; first asteroid with a moon visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by spacecraft at the time
000253 !253 Mathilde		053.33 !66×48×46	1885	NEAR Shoemaker	1997	7003121200000000000♠1,212	49.5	flyby; largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time
000433 !433 Eros		019.67 !34×11×11	1898	NEAR Shoemaker	1998–2001	5000000000000000000♠0	0	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
000951 !951 Gaspra		012.53 !18.2×10.5×8.9	1916	Galileo	1991	7003160000000000000♠1,600	262	flyby; first asteroid visited by a spacecraft
002867 !2867 Šteins		004.6 !4.6	1969	Rosetta	2008	7002800000000000000♠800	302	flyby; first asteroid visited by the ESA
004179 !4179 Toutatis		003.25 !4.5×~2	1934	Chang'e 2	2012	7000320000000000000♠3.2	0.70	flyby;[1] closest asteroid flyby, first asteroid visited by a Chinese probe
005535 !5535 Annefrank		004 !4.0	1942	Stardust	2002	7003307900000000000♠3,079	1230	flyby
009969 !9969 Braille		001.4 !2.2×0.6	1992	Deep Space 1	1999	7001260000000000000♠26	12.7	flyby; followed by flyby of Comet Borrelly; failure, missed it during flyby
025143 !25143 Itokawa		0.333 !0.5×0.3×0.2	1998	Hayabusa	2005	5000000000000000000♠0	0	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
134340 Pluto		2370 !2,370	1930	New Horizons	2015.2 !2015	7004125000000000000♠12,500	10.5	flyby; first trans-Neptunian object visited, most distant object 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. b Closest approach given in multiples of the minor planet's mean radius  ·  Default order of list: by the minor planet's designation, ascending.

List of comets visited by spacecraft

Comet				Space probe
Name	Image	Dimensions (km) (a)	Discovery year	Name	Closest approach			Remarks
					year	in km	in radii (b)
Giacobini–Zinner		2	1900	ICE	1985	7,800	7,800	first flyby of comet
Halley		15×9	Known since antiquity	Vega 1	1986	8,889	1,620	flyby
				Vega 2	1986	8,030	1,460	flyby
				Suisei	1986	151,000	27,450	distant flyby
				Sakigake	1986	6,990,000	1,270,747	distant flyby
				Giotto	1986	596	108	flyby; first direct images of a comet nucleus
Grigg–Skjellerup		2.6	1902	Giotto	1992	200	154	flyby
Borrelly		8×4×4	1904	Deep Space 1	2001	2,171	814	flyby; closest approach in September 2001 when probe entered the comet's coma[2]
Wild 2		5.5×4.0×3.3	1978	Stardust	2004	240	113	flyby; first sample return mission from comet to Earth (2006)
Tempel 1		7.6×4.9	1867	Deep Impact	2005	500	80	flyby; delivered an impactor
				Deep Impact's impactor vehicle	2005	0	0	first landing on a comet (blasted a crater)
				Stardust	2011	181	57.9	flyby; imaged the crater created by Deep Impact
C/2006 P1		?	2006	Ulysses	2007	260 million	?	unexpected ride through the comet's tail; detected complex chemistry; solar wind speed was halved
Hartley 2		1.4	1986	EPOXI (was Deep Impact)	2010	700	1,000	flyby; smallest comet visited
Churyumov–Gerasimenko		4.1×3.3×1.8	1969	Rosetta	2014	6	3.91 5.37	first orbiter of comet (November 2014); in orbit as of 2015; OSIRIS captured image with 11 cm/px-resolution in Spring 2015[3]
				Philae (Rosetta's lander)	2014	0	0	first soft landing on a comet (November 2014)
Notes: (a) Due to a non-spherical, irregular shape, a comet's x, y, and z axes instead of an (average) diameter are often used to describe its dimensions. (b) Closest approach given in multiples of the comet's (average mean) radius  ·  List ordered in descending order by a comet's first visit

Spacecraft visited by comets

Comet C/2013 A1 passed close by Mars in October 2014, closer than the Moon is to Earth.^[4] As of early 2014 it was calculated to pass as close as 0.00087 AU (130,000 km; 81,000 mi).^[4] This was so close that the event was deemed dangerous to spacecraft in orbit around Mars.^[5] Spacecraft that were active at that time included 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, MAVEN, Mars Orbiter Mission, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in Mars orbit – and two on the surface – Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity.

Planned visits

List of minor planets targeted for spacecraft visitation

The following table lists minor planets that are planned to be visited by spacecraft (given diameters are estimates). Asteroids that come to close enough to Earth can sometimes be observed, such as 4769 Castalia. See List of asteroid close approaches to Earth.

List of minor planets formerly targeted for spacecraft visitation

Former targets (were at one time proposed as a target).

References

Spacecraft missions to minor planets
including dwarf planets and asteroids
Orbiters	NEAR Shoemaker Hayabusa Dawn Hayabusa 2 (en route) OSIRIS-REx (en route)
Landers	NEAR Shoemaker MASCOT (en route) MINERVA-II 1A, 1B, 2 (en route)
Flybys	Galileo NEAR Shoemaker Cassini–Huygens Deep Space 1 Stardust/NExT Rosetta/Philae New Horizons Chang'e 2
Failed	Clementine MINERVA PROCYON
Planned	Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (probe, 2018)
Proposed	AIDA (AIM/ DART) Asteroid Redirect Mission Psyche Orbiter
Cancelled	AGORA CRAF Don Quijote Hayabusa Mk2 MAOSEP Marco Polo MarcoPolo-R New Horizons 2 Vesta
Related	Asteroid belt Asteroid capture Asteroid mining Human mission to an asteroid Colonization of asteroids Ceres Colonization Pluto Exploration Vesta Small Solar System bodies Near-Earth object Trans-Neptunian object Colonization Trojan Spacecraft missions to comets List of artificial objects on extra-terrestrial surfaces
Italics indicate active current missions.