... NEAR at Eros: Before Touchdown . ... 24.08.2001 . ... Credit: NEAR Project , JHUAPL , NASA . Image Montage by Patrick Vantuyne Explanation: On 12 February, 2001, the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft gently touched-down on the the surface of Eros -- the first ever landing on an asteroid . ... Frames which overlap were taken by the spacecraft from slightly different viewpoints , allowing Vantuyne to construct close-up stereo images of the surface of asteroid 433 Eros. ... August 2001 . ... Stereo Eros . ...