NEAR Spacecraft Survives Landing on Asteroid Eros . ... Credit: NEAR Project , JHU APL , NASA Explanation: Yesterday NEAR-Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and send signals back from its surface. Since the robot spacecraft was not designed for such a contingency , the success of the landing on asteroid 433 Eros was not assured. ... The streaking on the lower part of the image was caused by the loss of telemetry as the satellite impacted the surface . ...