What is a flyby in spaceflight?
A flyby is a spaceflight operation where a spacecraft passes in proximity to another body. This maneuver serves as the primary objective for many exploration missions and acts as a source of gravity assist.
A flyby is a spaceflight operation where a spacecraft passes in proximity to another body. This maneuver serves as the primary objective for many exploration missions and acts as a source of gravity assist.
Mariner IV flew by Mars in July 1965. It returned more accurate atmospheric data than previous attempts and captured much closer views of the Martian surface.
New Horizons performed the most distant flyby to date on the 1st of January 2019. The target was the Kuiper belt object Arrokoth at a distance of 43.6 AU from the Sun.
Cassini achieved 126 flybys of Titan over its mission life. Its final close flyby took place on the 22nd of April 2017 before retirement.
The encounter occurred on the 11th of September 1985. This flyby happened at a distance of 3,000 kilometers from the nucleus.