Astronomy Picture of the Day . A Passing Spaceship Views Earth . ... Credit Copyright: NEAR Spacecraft Team , JHUAPL , NASA Explanation: This is how Earth appeared to the passing spacecraft NEAR. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft was launched from Florida, USA, planet Earth in 1996. After a quick flyby of asteroid Mathilde in June last year, NEAR passed the Earth two weeks ago on its way to asteroid 433 Eros. ... Publications with keywords: NEAR project - Earth . ...